Auckland beat the Wanganui under-17 netballers by a single goal on Monday - and ended up in the top four at the national under-17 tournament in Christchurch.
Wanganui never lost another game from that point - and ended up 17th of 28 because a first round loss 31-36 against Southland, when they lost two players with injuries, set them off on the wrong foot.
That first loss meant Wanganui just missed the top 16.
Such was the narrow margin between high success and just a "good" tournament.
Yesterday the team beat Howick-Pakuranga 38-30, and Christchurch 37-33 to finish top of the second group.