The Southern Steel kept their unbeaten home record against Australian teams intact with a late surging 46-44 win over the West Coast Fever in first-round ANZ Championship netball action on Sunday.
An Australian team is yet to win in the southern fortress of Invercargill and the Steel ensured it is a record they treasure as they recovered from a fading third quarter to get across the line in the closing minutes against last year's big improvers.
Travelling the furthest of any of the franchises for first-round action, the Perth-based West Coast Fever showed no signs of fatigue as both teams looked well-matched early on.
Respective goalshoots, Daneka Wipiiti for the Steel, standing at 1.94m, and her Fever opposite Caitlin Bassett, at 1.92m, were the obvious targets for their team-mates and responded with mostly accurate returns. Evenly matched and nimble midcourts made for a free-flowing spectacle with both teams showing a willingness to play at a fast clip and letting the ball go quickly.
A confident-looking Wipiiti edged the Steel into the narrowest of advantages as they headed into the first break 11-10 ahead.
Four unanswered goals at the start of the second stanza and a strong surge to finish it gave the Steel some breathing space as they forged a 24-20 halftime lead.
Experienced Australian import Megan Dehn, at goal attack, got through a big work load and the captain marshalled her troops expertly, while the new in-circle defensive pairing of Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit and import Leana de Bruin made their presence felt.
A clutch of timely intercepts by the tall defenders gave the Steel extra possession which they made the most of.
The Fever impressed with their through court play which was based on long accurate passing forays with the young midcourt duo of Madison Browne and Shae Bolton leading the raids.
Bassett had a 100 percent success rate at the main break but was just not getting enough ball from her Fever team-mates.
The Fever hung onto the Steel's coat-tails with a spirited showing in the third quarter. Pint-sized Fever goal attack Leah Shoard, the shortest shooter on the court, lifted her involvement while towering goalkeeper Susan Fuhrmann kept the Steel's shooters in check.
The visitors pegged back the deficit to level the scores before hitting the front midway through the quarter. A five-goal lead to the Steel evaporated as the Fever hit the last break 35-32 ahead after outscoring the Steel 15 goals to eight.
Renowned for their fighting qualities, the Steel surged back to life, riding the urgings of their enthusiastic fans to revive their fortunes.
The sure shooting of Bassett helped the Fever to a five-goal advantage before the Steel dug deep, held their composure and took advantage of a heavy penalty count against the visitors to edge over the line in a thrilling final few minutes.