The left-hander hit 109 off 114 balls and shared in a record women's ODI ninth-wicket stand with half-centurion Alana King (51no) at the death to turn around the most precarious of situations as Australia had slumped to 7-76 against the excellent Pakistani spin attack on Wednesday.
Between them, Mooney and King put on 106 for the ninth wicket, including a blistering 53 off the last four overs to lead the champions to 9-221, which should prove a challenging target for Pakistan on the slow, turning wicket at R Premadasa Stadium.
Pakistan have never beaten Australia's women in 16 ODIs, but after putting the holders in to bat on Wednesday, but they were left dreaming of finally making it 17th time lucky after Alyssa Healy's side slumped amid a mixture of feeble batting and quality spin.
The captain herself clipped Sadia Iqbal softly into midwicket's hands to depart tamely for 20, setting off a startling collapse as Phoebe Litchfield succumbed just three balls later to captain Fatima Sana, with an airy drive that just looped straight up in the air.
Nashra Sandhu (3-37) proved the best of the spinners as she had Ellyse Perry stumped for five -- brilliantly by Pakistan's superb young keeper Sidra Nawaz, who later showed similar quicksilver glovework to get rid of Kim Garth - and then clean bowled Annabel Sutherland for one.
There was a sense of disbelief as Ash Gardner (one), Tahlia McGrath (five) and Georgia Wareham (nought) all misread the pace of the pitch and ended up surrendering their wickets to weak chipped shots
But amid the mayhem, No.4 Mooney typically kept her head and, aided by a slow but crucially stubborn 11 off 47 balls from Garth, gradually dragged Australia towards respectability.
Recording her fifth ODI century off 106 balls, the 31-year-old found an enterprising partner in King, who went for broke in the last few overs and ended up smacking three sixes and three fours in her 48-ball half-century.
Her 51no ended up setting another women's ODI record for the highest score by any batter at No.10 or 11.
Mooney, who often struggles in the heat, was finally out off the final ball of the innings, having cracked 11 boundaries during her crucial knock.
