Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic will need to live up to their name if they are to have any chance of making the top four this season.
While they looked better yesterday, in round four of the ANZ Championship against top-of-the-table Melbourne Vixens, the Magic lost their nerve when it counted most, stumbling to a 39-40 loss in the dying minutes after holding the advantage until then.
Despite being stacked with talent, the Magic have so far suffered four losses and languish at the bottom of the points table. An inability to seal the deal has often been their downfall and it will now take a magical effort to maintain their record of being the only side in the transtasman competition to make the semifinals each year.
Coach Noeline Taurua is adamant Magic's season is far from in tatters, that there's still an outside chance of making the semifinals.
"If you want to make [the] top two you can afford to lose three games, maybe four, but others have lost five and made it to the final four ... it's all very unpredictable at this stage," she said.
"We still have a chance, I believe, but if we don't start winning now, then we don't deserve to be there anyway."
The Southern Steel have twice made the semis after five losses and with nine rounds of regular play left this season, Taurua is hanging on to the hope her side is on the verge of turning things around.
Magic certainly looked like winning yesterday - until the last five minutes when they lost their way as a near-hysterical home crowd urged Vixens to victory.
But Taurua said the loss wasn't down to a lack of killer instinct by the Magic.
"The girls really fought hard ... for the majority of the game they played really well, they were controlled and they were dominating.
"It was just in that last five minutes they fell away."
Up 11-10 after a good opening quarter, Magic led 22-20 at halftime and held on in the crucial third quarter to lead 32-29 going into a riveting fourth spell that had Taurua on her feet on the sideline.
Ultimately, it was Vixens who maintained their composure, led by shooter Kate Beveridge who nailed a couple of crucial shots to lift her team.
With just seconds left and the Vixens up by one, Magic captain Laura Langman, at the edge of the circle, needed to get the ball to shooter Irene van Dyk, tightly marked by in-form Geva Mentor. If not a clean pass in, it might have forced a contact and given van Dyk a penalty shot under the post for the equaliser to force extra time. Langman hesitated and the final whistle blew, leaving Magic to ponder what might have been, a disappointing finish after a great team effort.
Langman was outstanding at centre for Magic as she led by example.
In other weekend matches, West Coast Fever beat Southern Steel 56-53, NSW Swifts beat Queenslands Firebirds 54-49 and The Thunderbirds beat the Mystics 50-48 last night.
Canterbury Tactix are up against Central Pulse tonight.