The former Silver Fern had been struggling in the opening rounds of the ANZ Championship, shooting at a shade over 71%.
That changed last night when the dual international landed 35 of her 37 attempts on goal in a player-of-the-match performance.
The 31-year-old set the tone early when she dropped in a shot from deep in the circle to get her side on the board and just got better as the game progressed.
The win lifts the Steel to three wins from five matches, while the Mystics' semifinal prospects took a dive.
The Auckland-based side has lost four of its six games and faces a tough road ahead to resurrect its play-off hopes.
Steel coach Robyn Broughton opted to stick with Katrina Grant and Sheryl Scanlan at the back rather than rush experienced goal keep Megan Hutton back into the fray.
The 33-year-old defender had been struggling with an Achilles injury and had to wait until half-time to get her first opportunity since the Steel's 55-46 win over the Central Pulse in round one.
It was a surprise when she replaced Grant, who had a good opening 30 minutes.
Without Grant the defence lacked some zip and Broughton reacted quickly, switching the players back for the crucial fourth quarter.
Grant delivered with an intercept in the final moments to help seal the important win.
If was evident from the beginning both sides had brought their A-game.
In the battle of the shooters, Cathrine Latu started strongly for the Mystics but faded, whereas down the other end Wilkins just kept getting better and Daneka Wipiiti was solid.
In a relatively error-free opening 15 minutes there were just a couple of mistakes which allowed the Steel to get its nose in front.
A rocket pass from Temepara George slipped through Latu's grasp, and Scanlan showed some vision to get in front of her opponent and snaffle an intercept.
That was enough for the Steel to eke out a two-goal advantage, which it held for the majority of the opening spell until Latu slotted a goal from deep with a few seconds remaining in the period.
Nursing a 17-16 lead the Steel enjoyed a period of dominance, scoring seven goals to two to stretch the margin to six goals.
Grant grabbed a couple of crucial rebounds and, with Wilkins making shots from everywhere, the Steel seized control of the game, outscoring its opponent 16-10 to take a seven-goal lead into half-time.
The Steel did a relatively good job of protecting its lead for about 10 minutes.
But the visiting side stopped playing netball and that allowed the Mystics to claw their way back into the match.
When a couple of umpiring calls went in favour of the home side, suddenly the comfortable margin had been pruned to three goals.
The Mystics scrapped hard in the final period, desperately searching for turnovers.
They closed to within two goals but the Steel held its nerve to win what was a much closer match than the nine-goal gap suggests.
Had several long passes from George found Latu instead of the sideline in the dying stages, the result could have been different.
Southern Steel 61 (Donna Wilkins 35 from 37, Daneka Wipiiti 26/34), Northern Mystics 52 (Cathrine Latu 29/37, Pamela Cookey 23/26).
Quarter 17-16, half- time: 33-26, third-quarter 44-41.
