Taieri had a lot of the possession in the early stages of the game but struggled to make passes stick in the final third.
Alex Crawshaw had the first chance for Taieri when she dribbled the ball into the circle and drew a sharp save from Kings goalkeeper Annemieke Van Vliet.
Taieri had successive penalty corners but both shots were blocked by defenders before they could reach the goal.
Taieri was dominating territory and possession. Kings occasionally counterattacked but, when it did get in the opposing half, Taieri defender Vicky Clarke-Joyce shut down everything thrown at her.
Clarke-Joyce was also involved in attack when Taieri received a penalty corner. She hit the ball towards goal and Lucy Flattery showed quick reflexes to deflect it past the keeper and give Taieri the lead.
Taieri looked more confident after the goal. Greer Golding and Holly Lang both had chances to score before halftime but failed to hit the target.
Kings started the second half more positively and received a penalty corner in the first minute of the half, but the attempt was saved by Taieri goalkeeper Amanda Burleigh.
After holding Kings out for the first 10 minutes of the half, Taieri started to dominate possession again and had successive penalty corners saved.
Most of the play was restricted to the middle of the field for the rest of the half and neither team spent much time in the opposition circle.
Taieri sealed the victory five minutes from fulltime, when Crawshaw found herself one-on-one with the goalkeeper and calmly stroked the ball into the net.
Other premier women's games were postponed because of representative tournaments.
In Auckland, Southern finished sixth at the national under-21 tournament.
By David Beck.
