Beryl Rusk (81) will bravely sport Magic colours among the 3000-strong sea of parochial Steel fans in Invercargill.
Rusk has made the long trek south from her Matamata home to ensure her granddaughter, Magic and Silver Ferns defender Casey Williams, has some vocal support.
"I'll probably be the only one with my Magic scarf on. It will depend on what way the score is going as to whether I'm shrinking under my seat or not," Rusk joked.
While Steel fans have a daunting reputation, Williams has no qualms about her grandmother being courtside.
"I think she will love it, and it's always good to know there's one person on your side," Williams said.
Rusk has racked up thousands of air miles travelling as the proud grandmother of the Silver Ferns captain.
She has been to games in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and has already bought tickets for the world championships in Singapore next year.
The Steel will still have the vast majority of the Stadium Southland crowd behind it tonight - and every cheer will be needed.
Sitting seventh in the 10-team ANZ Championship with a record of four wins and four losses, the Steel is teetering, and a loss tonight may prove fatal to the team's semifinal aspirations.
It will again be without veteran defender Sheryl Scanlan (calf injury), while her replacement, team physiotherapist Jenny Ferguson, is also unavailable as she is with the New Zealand schools side in Adelaide.
The ends of the court will be vital for the Steel.
Leana du Bruin's vision and athleticism will be key to combating the peerless Irene van Dyk, while either Daneka Wipiiti or Julianna Naoupu will have to be wary of the acrobatic Williams.
Wipiiti missed the Steel's last game against the Magic due to a knee injury, while dynamic youngster Naoupu proved hard for Williams to contain in their previous encounter.
Van Dyk shows no sign of slowing down.
She has landed 271 of her 287 attempts for the Magic, a remarkable success rate of 94%.
Williams has some fancy statistics of her own.
The Silver Ferns defender has 25 intercepts this season, the second-most in the competition, and her 40 defensive rebounds lead that category.
Their dominance and the control of a midcourt guided by Laura Langman explains why the Magic has won seven of its eight games and is second in the competition.
There was little in it when the teams last met, in Rotorua in March, with the Steel competing well for three quarters before the Magic eased to a 47-41 win.
The Steel will need to lift a notch tonight, and it is up to the likes of Wipiiti, du Bruin and Wendy Telfer to lead the way.
In the only other all-New Zealand clash of the round, there was a rare win for the struggling Central Pulse, which beat the Canterbury Tactix 45-43 in Wellington.
It was just the second win in three years for the Pulse, which had lost in extra time to the Mystics earlier in the week.
Former Otago players Anna Thompson and Katrina Grant played key roles for the Pulse.
