In its least convincing performance of the season, the Southern Steel came away with a 61-55 victory over the winless Mainland Tactix at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin yesterday.
The result kept alive its now eight-match ANZ Premiership winning streak, but it was far from the 49-point drubbing it gave the Tactix when the sides first met.
After trying out various combinations, including having Jhaniele Fowler-Reid on the bench for the middle two quarters, the Steel's regular starting seven helped it pull away in the final quarter.
It took until the last three minutes to do so though.
A huge effort from an impressive Tactix team made the Steel work hard, the visiting side even holding a lead early in the final quarter.
Steel coach Reinga Bloxham was disappointed with the performance, although said it was interesting seeing the team without Fowler-Reid.
''I thought we had ample ball to push on in the second quarter,'' she said.
''So we'll have to have a really good look at that and see what you can take out of it and see where we can improve.
''It was quite interesting [seeing the team without Fowler-Reid].
''I thought at times we had nice flow without her there. It just provides a different style of game.
''But we just couldn't quite execute and finish things off at the end and that to me is the most disappointing thing.''
Despite that she had not been nervous, knowing that the team was capable of getting the job done.
''I always felt that we had the upper hand. Nervous isn't the right word.
''I knew we could do it. I was just sort of waiting for them to make their connections and get going.''
The Tactix made the Steel work for much of the first quarter and held an 8-7 lead midway through.
The Steel had looked sloppy early on, turning ball over as it could not find the target of Fowler-Reid from range.
She hung on the edge of the circle, as the team looked to get the ball over and behind Temalisi Fakahokotau.
Eventually it started clicking though, and Steel finished the quarter strongly, getting out to a 21-14 lead.
The defence was tenacious, making the Tactix work hard for its goals, while on attack it missed just one goal attempt.
At that point things got interesting.
Fowler-Reid took a break and the easy feed was no longer as prevalent.
That translated into six fewer goal attempts and a far more shaky attacking performance.
At the other end, the Tactix kept ticking the score over, with 1.95m goal shoot Ellie Bird providing the visiting side a big target of its own.
The Steel still held a 34-28 lead at halftime, but it was far from convincing.
That carried into the third quarter, as the Tactix proved difficult to stop on attack, Bird making 15 goals from 16 attempts.
It tied the score at 36-36 five minutes into the quarter, before doing so again at 42-42 five minutes later.
The Steel was able to take a 46-45 lead into the final quarter, but it had to withstand arguably its toughest test of the season.
While there was always the feeling that it would pull away when Fowler-Reid returned, it did not happen automatically.
It was an impressive performance from the Tactix and Bloxham praised it after the game.
''They're a side that builds on confidence and they got a bit of confidence and they gave us a good go,'' she said.
'''I think they were really niggly, they stuck to their game plan and they disrupted us, so yeah they did a good job of that.''
Immediately following the Steel's win, South beat Mainland 60-40 in its Beko League match.
South led 28-20 at halftime, after it took advantage of a dominant start.
It extended that to 45-31 at the end of the third quarter.
Jennifer O'Connell made 29 goals from 35 attempts, while Aliyah Dunn impressed shooting 26 from 30.
