They roared back from a nine-goal deficit heading into the final quarter to stun the Central Pulse 58-57 in a wild finish to the ANZ Premiership game in Wellington.
Steel goal attack Georgia Heffernan, in perhaps the defining performance of her career, landed a late two-point shot, and after the Pulse missed an attempt, it was 57-57 with 37sec to play.
The Steel stayed patient, worked the opportunity and celebrated wildly when Aliyah Dunn converted the winning goal right on the buzzer.
Steel coach Wendy Frew described this as a season-defining game, and it may prove to be just that.
The Steel remain in the hunt for a playoff place. Perhaps just as importantly, they have proved they have reservoirs of courage and heart, especially considering they were pumped 70-45 the last time they played the Pulse.
‘‘We never lost belief,’’ Heffernan told Sky Sport after the game.
‘‘We really thought we could win this game, and we came together as a team, so we’re stoked.’’
The Steel have two more home games, against the Magic and Stars, either side of a tricky away game against the Mystics.
The Pulse made the early running as they capitalised on some sloppy Steel centre passes to leap to a 7-2 lead.
But the rest of the first quarter was much more even and both teams delivered some slick play through the court.
While the Pulse focused on ambitious long feeds — most of which came off — to Amelia Walmsley, the Steel were at their best when they kept things close and crisp.
The combination between the Heffernan sisters, Kate making just her second start of the season at centre and Georgia in sublime form at goal attack, was particularly impressive.
A couple of soft Steel turnovers threatened to let the Pulse get away again.
But a huge held ball forced by Carys Stythe on Walmsley then a shut-down of a Maddy Gordon centre pass helped the Steel limit the Pulse’s advantage to 16-14 at the first break.
The Steel quickly nabbed their first lead of the night before an unfortunate lapse let the Pulse nudge ahead by four.
Jaws dropped around the TSB Arena when Walmsley, who had earlier taken her accuracy streak to 100 consecutive goal attempts without missing, finally missed a shot.
The Steel called for a time out later in the second quarter and injected both Abby Lawson and Kate Lloyd into the circle defence.
Lawson had an immediate impact, and the southerners forced a couple of big turnovers, but every time the Steel looked like charging back, the Pulse stepped up, and the home side led 34-30 at halftime.
When the Pulse slipped ahead 38-31 early in the third quarter, there was a sense the game was getting away from the Steel.
But again they responded.
Lawson kept battling furiously and Georgia Heffernan kept finding herself space to influence the action at the attack end.
What followed, though, was probably the most significant passage of the game.
With goal defence Parris Mason firing in some dazzling long balls to Walmsley, and the Steel committing a couple of bad turnovers, the Pulse went on a five-goal run.
Tiana Metuarau then dropped in a two-point bomb as the Pulse took a commanding 50-41 lead into the final quarter.
That was a formidable task for the Steel to overcome, and while they banged in the first three goals of the quarter, they appeared to suffer a fatal blow when wing defence Renee Savai’inaea was sent to the bin for two minutes for clattering Whitney Souness to the floor.
Oddly, that led to the Pulse falling apart — they seemed to panic, and lose their structure — and the Steel deciding they would refuse to be beaten.
The scores
Southern Steel 58
Aliyah Dunn 32 (32/35), Georgia Heffernan 26 (24/26)
Central Pulse 57
Amelia Walmsley 49 (49/53), Tiana Metuarau 8 (7/9)
Quarter scores: Pulse 16-14, 34-30, 50-41.
