The North Island retained the Kevin Eddy Memorial Trophy for the eighth successive year at the Otago Indoor Bowls Stadium.
The event has been held since 1980 and has been won by the North Island 21 times compared to 10 by the South Island.
The North started strongly and led 13-3 after the first of the three sessions.
It was still in front after the second session that was won 9-7 and led 22-10 overall.
In the final session, the South turned the tables with wins in the women's pairs and triples and the men's singles, pairs and triples to win the session 10-6.
But the resurgence came too late.
The men's singles was the only event in which the South Island won an inter-island medal.
Gary Low (Southland) won his three games against Keith Setter (Tauranga) 19-13, 20-15, 21-19.
Watching from the sidelines were his parents, Graham and Jan Low. Last month the family team won the New Zealand triples title.
Auckland's Teri Anderson (17), the youngest player competing in the inter-island event, beat Ann Graham (Canterbury) 21-14,14-19, 19-16 in the women's singles.
In the decisive third game, Graham led 16-5 after 12 ends before Anderson made a dramatic recovery in the 21-end game. She scored 11 shots on the next six ends to level the score at 16-16 after 18 ends.
The 19th end was drawn before Anderson won the inter-island medal with three shots on the last two ends.
Anderson, who suffers from juvenile arthritis, has been the best junior singles player in the country for the past four years.
The women's pairs was won by the North Island combination of Linda McCurdy and Sheree Holmes who beat Lynn Rance (Otago) and Mary Jordan (Nelson) 19-14, 19-16, 21-29. Rance reached her best form in the final game that was won by the South Island.
The men's triples was won by the North Island team of Paul Wright, Jason Parker and Brent Biggar who beat the South Island combination of Michael Lawson (Ashburton), Daniel French (Dunedin) and Chris Moffitt (Canterbury) 24-11, 19-19, 15-22 on a countback of ends by 34.5 to 28.5.
