The 1.94m-tall goal shoot helped the Steel win the battle of the southern franchises with some accurate shooting in Christchurch.
The Tactix had been on a roll, upsetting the Northern Mystics and the NSW Swifts but came unstuck in the local derby.
The Steel exploited Wipiiti's height advantage over goal keep Victoria Smith, lobbing in balls from deep in the court.
And Wipiiti finished off nicely, scoring 38 of her 51 attempts in the convincing 51-42 win.
Rookie Tactix coach Helen Mahon-Stroud made a questionable decision to play her tallest defender, Demelza Fellowes, at goal defence rather than back at goal keep.
With Wipiiti towering over Smith, the Steel had a free pass to hurl the ball into their lanky shooter.
That free pass has probably expired, with Wipiiti expecting the Tactix to adopt a different strategy at Stadium Southland this afternoon and start Fellowes at goal keep.
"They'd be silly not to change something at the defensive end," Wipiiti said.
The Tactix were aware of what went wrong a couple of weeks ago and would have learned from it, she said.
Ditto the Steel, who were beaten by the Northern Mystics at their home base in Invercargill on Monday night after dominating for much of the match.
"We're disappointed we didn't come away with a win on Monday night, and have a bit of hunger in our belly. The wound is still open a little bit.
"I think we protected our lead, rather than putting our foot down on the throttle and building on the lead," Wipiiti said.
The Steel made some critical errors at crucial times but had addressed those issues.
The team had learned from the mistakes and would stick more closely to the game plan, she said.
"In this competition, you pretty much have to take what you need from the games and move on to the next one.
"You can't sit and dwell on it."
The Steel have had a quick turnaround this week.
After a heartbreaking loss on Monday night, it is a big ask for the players to get back up for this afternoon's clash.
Meanwhile, Canterbury are fresh from a bye.
"Byes can either work against you or they can work for you. They've had a bye and sat back and watched our game.
"But we're keen to show our local public than we can do it and get a win at home," she said.
The Tactix are in sixth place with two wins from four matches.
The Steel are one place behind the Tactix with two wins from five matches and need the win to stay in touch with the competition frontrunners.
Southern Steel: Megan Dehn, Daneka Wipiiti, Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit, Julianna Naoupu, Jess Tuki, Jenny-May Coffin, Liana Barrett-Chase, Wendy Telfer, Debbie White, Katrina Grant, Erika Burgess, Megan Hutton.
Canterbury Tactix: Maree Bowden, Jodi Brown, Demelza Fellowes, Phillipa Finch, Ellen Halpenny, Charlotte Kight, Elizabeth Manu, Jonanna McCaw, Julie Seymour, Victoria Smith, Hayley Stockman, Anna Thompson.
