ANZ Premiership: Steel edge Stars to snap long losing streak

The Steel fought back to edge the Stars. Photo / Michael Bradley Photography

The Steel have finally snapped their painful losing streak, earning a thrilling extra-time win over the Stars in Invercargill on Saturday.

Without a victory in nearly two years, the Steel produced a compelling comeback in the final quarter, erasing an eight-goal deficit to leave the scores level at 58-all.

And the hosts handled the pressure with more poise in the six additional minutes, edging their opponents 63-61 for their first win in the ANZ Premiership since May 22, 2022.

Despite dominating the first and third quarters, the Stars let slip a golden opportunity to register their first victory of the season, forced to settle for a third success bonus point for finishing within five goals.

Skipping out to an early five-goal advantage, the visitors took a 16-13 lead into the first break while posting their first winning opening quarter of the campaign.

But the Steel came out strongly upon resumption, with the link between shooters Grace Namana and Georgia Heffernan starting to pay dividends. Finding their timing and connectivity, the pair levelled up the scores with five minutes of the stanza to go.

There was nothing to separate the teams at halftime, both having 33 attempts at goal and making 29. After the Steel built a three-goal lead in the third quarter, the Stars responded swiftly and recorded a 21-13 edge in the period.

But faced with a 50-42 deficit at the last turn, the Steel were roared back into the game by their home fans and eventually broke their long losing run.