The result at Trusts Stadium in Auckland was another blow for Waikato, which has been desperate to regain its top-division status for the past three years.
But for Otago, it was both a nice way to end its campaign and an endorsement of the ability of the young players in the squad.
"We're really thrilled to finish with that win," Otago coach Deb Tasi-Cordtz told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
"It's a really young team and on paper, it probably looked quite a daunting task for us to hang in there."
Otago won just two of its six games in the competition but picked up bonus points in others, and the line between a semifinal place and a promotion-relegation battle was thin.
"It's a hugely stressful competition," Tasi-Cordtz said.
"You're just a few goals away from the top four and then all of a sudden you are threatened with relegation.
"We certainly wanted to make the top four, but after that you just have to reassess your approach and make sure you fight hard to retain your place."
Otago took an early five-goal lead against Waikato and appeared to be heading smoothly to a win.
But Waikato clicked into action in the third quarter and the scores were tied with six minutes to go.
"From there, the girls just played with real maturity and pushed on to the end," Tasi-Cordtz said.
"It's been a whole team effort and I think we've seen improvement right through the squad.
The girls are great friends off the court and that has started to translate into good performances on it."
As always seems to be the case with Otago, the team will not be together much longer.
Tasi-Cordtz estimates only four or five players will be around next season.
"It's always hard to hold on to players down here.
They tend to graduate from university and then go out into the world.
"If we could hold on to this group for a couple of years, we would be national champions."
Tasi-Cordtz said she had enjoyed her first season in the job and thought she coped well with the demands of the role.
Canterbury claimed its first national title in eight years with a heart-stopping 53-52 win over defending champion Auckland-Waitakere in the final.
Canterbury had to stave off a late Auckland surge before ending the competition unbeaten.
Goal shoot Ellen Halpenny kept her cool, nailing a pressure shot to secure the win after Canterbury had led at each interval.
Halpenny landed 38 of her 43 attempts, while Auckland sharpshooter Cathrine Latu had a perfect shooting record in a losing team, with 37 from 37.
"It's fantastic. It was a total team effort. I know it sounds cliched but it was," Canterbury defender Victoria Smith told Sky Sport.
"It felt like the crowd was against us but I knew we could do it.
"We've gone through undefeated and I'm so proud of the girls."
Canterbury beat Auckland by 18 goals a week ago but the host side, in its fifth successive national final, was right in the contest throughout the final.
Nine of the 12-strong Canterbury squad were involved with the Tactix in this year's ANZ Championship.
Three Otago players were later named in the New Zealand Under-21 squad: shooter Te Paea Selby-Rickit, utility Shannon Francois and midcourter Gina Crampton.
The squad, coached by Otago's Janine Southby, also includes former Steel shooter Julianna Naoupu.
