The 600-strong crowd in the Lion Foundation Arena at the Edgar Centre cheered and buoyed up Otago when it led 12-10 after the first quarter.
Otago had the bit between its teeth and it refused to let Canterbury back into the game.
Otago led by seven shots, 29-22, at halftime and extended the margin by two shots in each of the last two quarters to win by 11 points.
Canterbury has won the national title for the past two years and beat Otago in last year's final. It was Canterbury's first loss in two years.
It was Otago's first win of the season and keeps alive its chances of a place in the top four. It has to beat Bay of Plenty in 10 days to clinch a semifinal spot at the national tournament in Tauranga.
"We had hard training, looked in the mirror and had some hard talk this week," coach Deb Tasi-Cordtz said.
"We were fighting to stay in the semifinal spot. We knew there were no second chances.
"We got to the front and we were never going to let that lead go.
"We thought we could do it but we had to put our money where our mouth was today. It was a tough ask and we did it."
Francois (21), a fourth-year pharmacy student from Motueka, was in dynamic form at centre with her speed to the ball and swift and accurate passing.
It is her third year in the Otago team"Shannon led from the front in the midcourt and did what we expect from the captain to inspire the team in the first quarter," Tasi-Cordtz said.
In its three earlier games this year, Otago drew with Waikato and lost narrowly to Auckland-Waitakere and Wellington.
It was a complete team effort by Otago and Canterbury had no answer to the 60-minute onslaught. Otago played a fast, free flowing and accurate game. It was aggressive on attack and its strong defence rattled the Canterbury shooters.
Otago was patient with the ball when it had the lead.
"In the past few games we have been a bit frivolous with the ball," Tasi-Cordtz said.
The other key player in the Otago team was Gina Crampton at wing attack.
Crampton (20), a personal trainer student at the Otago Polytechnic, played for New Zealand under-21 last yearHer slick accurate passes gave good ball to the Otago shooters in the circle.
She varied her approach with low and fast passes and when the occasion warranted she lobbed passes over the heads of the defenders.
The return of New Zealand under-21 representative Stacey Peeters at wing defence helped Otago. She missed the first three games with hamstring problems.
An example of Otago's teamwork came in the second quarter when goal defence Storm Purvis made an intercept at the back, passed to Peeters, who put in a perfect pass to goal shoot Te Paea Selby-Rickit in the circle and Otago led 23-17.
Selby-Rickit had a dominant presence in the circle and landed goals from the edge, as well as from under the net.
She was the top goal-scorer in the game and found the net with 45 of her 53 shots. Olivia Bates netted four of her eight shots and Kate Shearer was successful with seven of her 10.
The best Canterbury shooters were Elizabeth Hayman with 12 goals from 14 attempts and Ellen Halpenny 26 goals from 29 attempts.
NPC
The scores
Otago 56
Te Paea Selby-Rickit 45, Olivia Bates 4, Kate Shearer 7
Canterbury 45
Elizabeth Hayman 12, Ellen Halpenny 26, Gemma Hazeldine 2, Sophia Fenwick 5.
1st quarter, 12-10; 2nd, 17-12, 3rd, 12-10; 4th, 15-13.
