Five unanswered goals by shooter Ellie Bird in the closing moments have propelled Mainland Tactix past winless Northern Stars 58-57 and to the top of the ANZ Premiership table.
The dramatic comeback spoiled the celebrations for Stars midcourt Gina Crampton, who brought up 150 games in the national competition - 52 for the Stars and 98 for Southern Steel.
Still chasing their first victory, after six previous defeats, the Aucklanders seemed about to break their duck, dominating the third quarter 17-12 and building a six-goal butter. They still held their advantage with just over five minutes left, before the Tactix defence kept them scoreless for almost fourth minutes.
"It was just the 'want' to win," reflected Tactix captain Kimiora Poi. "I think we let them walk all over us in the third quarter and the score got up on us... but just that fight to the end."
Bird finished the contest with 47/49 shooting (96 percent), including a faultless second half, to maintain her position as the competition's leading scorer (259) and most accurate shooter (92.2 percent). Counterpart Maia Wilson returned 42/46 (91 percent).
"I think our attack just lost it, to be honest," said Wilson. "Week after week, our defence has been quite consistent and for the first three quarters, our attack was able to match it.
"Bit gutted. One of the things I said before we came out for the fourth quarter was I didn't want us to lose that mongrel and I think we probably lost that a little bit.
"Really disappointing that we lost that again for ourselves, but it shows we're actually giving teams a really good run for their money."
The Stars' average losing margin across seven games is just four goals and their next chance to break their slump comes against Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic next Monday.
The result raises the Tactix equal with Central Pulse atop the table, but ahead by just three goals difference. They face defending champions Northern Mystics on Sunday.
Mainland Tactix 58 (Bird 47/49, Selby-Rickit 11/12) Northern Stars 57 (Wilson 42/46, Falkner 11/13, Malesala 4/4)
