"Steel deserved it and we've got to take it on the chin. We weren't good enough," said Magic coach Noeline Taurua.
"It's never good on the receiving end. But you have to take some positives to move forward and a positive for us was probably the fact we fought back at the end - the scoreline could have been worse.
"We're at home next week and we only want one loss. We've got to pick ourselves up, work on the negatives and get on with the job," she said.
"There's a lot of work still do do ... but it's not all doom and gloom."
Magic struggled for cohesion last night and were unable to maintain any momentum despite being in the lead a number of times.
Following a lacklustre opening spell Magic were able to gain a bit more impetus as the game progressed but it came sporadically and they failed to attack the ball on defence.
Magic goal shoot Irene van Dyk was in superb shooting form, nailing 30 from 30. She was fairly well supported by competition newcomer Jess Waitapu and one of last year's revelations, Julianna Naoupu, although the latter's 66 per cent (12 from 18) shooting percentage let her down.
At the other end Casey Williams and Leana de Bruin scored some decent turnover but didn't make too much of a dent in the dynamic partnership of Jodi Brown and an inspirational Donna Wilkins, just back from having a baby but sucking it up to give it all she had.
They proved a wily pair, difficult for the defenders to get around.
Magic really let themselves down through the court with simple errors, lapses in concentration and some messy passages of play.
Steel were much quicker to jump on any loose ball and although they fell off the pace as Magic upped the ante in the third spell, they maintained their composure to fight back in the final quarter, gaining some crucial turnover to seal the deal.
Wilkins paid tribute to a couple of pivotal turnovers gained at the hands of 18-year-old defender Storm Purvis which she said lifted the home side and spurred them on to victory.
In last night's other round one clash West Coast Fever coasted to a 55-35 win over Canterbury Tactix.
