It trailed the South Pac Magic 40-34 at halftime in their women's club basketball game on Tuesday.
Just over four minutes later, that had ballooned to 59-37, the Magic going on a 19-3 run to take the game away from the students.
Varsity eventually stemmed the bleeding, and even cut back into the margin.
But it was too much to overhaul.
The Magic, which lost its opening five matches, claimed a third consecutive win, emerging an 88-76 victor and instilling itself as the league's form team.
Millie Simpson continued her strong season, leading the Magic with 27 points.
She was ably supported by Dayna Turnbull and Letitia Mullaly, who had 17 and 16 points respectively.
That trio were key through the Magic's run, providing scoring threats both at the hoop and from deep, generating a series of easy baskets.
Crucially it also helped the Magic get stops.
It was able to set up its press and cause havoc as Varsity struggled to cope with the defensive pressure.
Not only did the students struggle to make their shots, they barely generated a good look at the hoop during that run.
That became cyclical.
Each time the Magic got a stop, it unleashed its runners in transition and forced the Varsity defence to scramble.
Aside from that period, Varsity was generally competitive throughout the game.
Leila Anesi led with 21 points, while Tyler Mitchell had 18 of her own.
They helped keep Varsity in touch, trailing by six points at each of the first two breaks.
Even after the run, Varsity was able to make inroads.
The Anesi-Mitchell duo was prominent, as was Maddie Tinnock, in bringing the students back to within nine.
But the 22-point deficit proved far too much of a hole to get out of, Simpson and Mullaly helping the Magic hold off any genuine comeback.
In the other game Southern Hoiho duo Zoe Richards and Samara Gallaher had 27 and 20 points respectively to beat a gallant Andy Bay Falcons 73-62.
The Falcons were without star forward Brittany Richards, but its schoolgirl stars proved more than capable of stepping up.
Alexa Duff led with 18 points, while Laura Ring and Elise Carline had 14 and 11 points each, in an impressive display from the young trio.
They kept the Falcons in touch through the first half and Ajax led just 35-31 at halftime.
But that became 60-43 in Ajax's favour by the end of the third quarter.
Duff hit a triple to pull the Falcons back to nine with under two minutes to go, but Richards closed the game out for Ajax.
