For the third time in six days, and second time in two, the Southern Steel has claimed victory to maintain its 2017 unbeaten streak.
This time it was made to work by the Central Pulse before prevailing 63-50 in Invercargill last night.
It was its seventh win and cemented the team firmly at the top of the ANZ Premiership table.
Sunday's slow start seemed a long time ago, as the Steel clicked early in the first quarter in what was the defining period of the match.
After falling behind 3-1, it clawed back to a 4-3 lead, before extending that to 7-4 and then 12-5.
It ended the quarter with an 18-12 lead, playing at pace through the midcourt.
Gina Crampton and Shannon Francois combined well to get the shooters quality ball, while Te Paea Selby-Rickit was into everything.
Meanwhile, on the defensive end, it applied pressure well, forcing the Pulse into mistakes and restricting the visitor to 14 goal attempts.
It was something Steel captain Wendy Frew said the team had made a focus, after falling behind early against the Northern Mystics on Sunday.
``Yeah, we certainly talked about that,'' Frew said of the start.
``To be down 8-1 was not ideal, but I guess for us to show character, we brought that back in the first.
``But we certainly were focused on starting well tonight and we did that and it was just an enjoyable game to play.
``It was intense, it was physical and both teams put it all out there, so hopefully it was a good spectacle.''
The Pulse made more of a fight of it from there, but the deficit proved too much to overhaul.
Its defensive intensity lifted, making the Steel work hard on attack, depriving its shooters of possession and forcing mistakes.
That helped it cut into the lead as it got the score back to 20-17 five minutes into the quarter.
It was able to hold the margin through the middle of the quarter, before a Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit deflection proved key in making it 28-22.
A Katrina Grant turnover saw that margin become seven, before the Steel made it eight off the next centre pass.
The Pulse pegged one back to go to halftime at 31-24, but it had looked the better of the two teams for a large part of the quarter.
For the third quarter in a row, the Pulse scored the first two goals, as it came out after halftime.
It came out with the same intensity it did in the second quarter, forcing Steel mistakes to narrow the margin back to 34-31.
As it did in the previous quarter, though, the Steel came back strongly, restoring an eight-point deficit after nine minutes.
It went into the final break with a 47-39 lead, before getting the better of the fourth quarter to pull away.
Frew was happy with the way the team responded to the Pulse's pressure.
``We'll certainly go back to the drawing board this week. I think there's still a lot to work on.
``I don't think we absorbed the physical pressure that well.
``I think we need to get stronger up there and I guess just keep grinding out there.''
