By her own admission the towering goal shoot has not had a vintage year. With the Steel missing a quality playmaker at goal attack this season, the stage was set for Wipiiti to play the leading role.
But without the support of the likes of Megan Dehn and Donna Wilkins, Wipiiti froze. Her combination with goal attack Paula Griffin never reached any great heights and, eventually, coach Robyn Broughton was forced to swap the players around.
Griffin's game picked up but Wipiiti struggled with the positional switch and last week she was left out of the Silver Ferns World Championship squad.
However, with Northern Mystics shooter Cathrine Latu losing her bid to be ruled eligible, the door has been left open for Wipiiti to force her way back. The Steel plays the Mystics in Invercargill tomorrow night and a good performance could see Wipiiti regain her national bib.
"It is heart wrenching for [Latu], obviously ... and I feel for her but it does give the rest of the shooters another chance," Wipiiti said.
"That is exciting but it is definitely not what is going to be in my head on Sunday. Our goal is just to finish strong as a team and really go out with a bang."
From a personal perspective a shift to goal attack late in the season did not help Wipiiti's confidence, and she also missed having the experienced heads around her she has had in the past. But Wipiiti was in no mood to offer up any excuses. Her performances, by her own standards, were "below par", she said.
"It has been disappointing for me not to be able to secure my goal shoot role in the combination with [Griffin] and going out to goal attack. But that is sport.
"I feel like I've been very lucky down here. I've had some good seasons and I've had some really good people around me who made me feel like I was playing really well. When I had to step up, I probably didn't step up as much as I should have and I have to slap my own hand for that one.
"I needed to take a senior role but sat back a little bit on that."
Wipiiti is focused on finishing the season as well as she can and is determined to return a better player next season.
The Mystics need to win the match to book a place in the playoffs for the first time in the franchise's history.
The Auckland-based team leads the head-to-heads 4-3 and thumped the Steel by 17-goals in round one.
The combined Otago-Southland side is much tougher at home and, despite close losses to the Magic (38-33) and New South Wales Swifts (40-39) in recent weeks, remains hard to topple in the deep south.
The Mystics, though, have a good record in Invercargill with two wins from three trips south. They were also impressive in their last match, dispatching the Canterbury Tactix 62-43.
The 19-goal margin was a franchise record and 62 was its equal highest score.
The game should be a clash of styles with the Steel's defensive pairing of Leana de Bruin and Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit proving stingy, and the Mystics talented shooting combination of Latu and Maria Tutaia one of the best attacking units in the competition.
The Mystics average 53.1 goals and have been shooting at 85.7% accuracy, while the Steel has landed just 77.7% of its attempts and has scored an average of 41.5 goals.
STEEL v MYSTICS
Venue: ILT Velodrome, Invercargill
Time: Tomorrow, 6.20pm
PREVIOUS MATCHES
• 2011: Auckland, 51-34 Mystics
• 2010: Auckland, 50-43 Steel
• 2010: Invercargill, 52-49 Mystics
• 2009: Auckland, 61-52 Steel
• 2009: Invercargill, 52-50
