The 41-year-old starting centre (13 points, five rebounds) returned to the capital for the first time since making her incredible comeback and started the game in style, winning the tip-off and nailing a three.

It wasn't a perfect performance overall from the veteran, but she showed flashes of the talent that saw her win four WNBL titles with the Capitals.

"It was a super special game," Jackson told The Canberra Times while greeting a long line of adoring fans wanting her autograph after the win.

"It's sort of sad I'm not a Cap anymore, but we've got a great team and it's a different time for me.

"We needed that win. We're trying to find our rhythm so every week for us is really important and we want to be hitting our stride in March."

The Capitals stepped up in defence against Southside, and found some joy on quick transitions for easy points at the other end too.

Jade Melbourne (17 points, five assists) played with more freedom a few weeks on from that ankle injury that sidelined her, and made Southside look silly with some brilliant hook shots that bamboozled her opposition.

Nicole Munger (19 points, five rebounds) was another highlight for the Capitals in just her second game as a mid-season recruit.

After the first quarter the Capitals trailed 17-27 against the relentless Flyers offence, and Southside shooting three-pointers over 50 percent made the job even harder for Canberra in the second period.

Maddi Rocci (10 points, five assists) was one of those Flyers finding their range and also proved elusive getting underneath in the paint, while Kayla Thornton (16 points) used her strength to bully Canberra.

At half-time the Capitals faced a 15-point deficit (37-52), but they weren't about to roll over.

Flyers coach Cheryl Chambers was forced into burning a timeout early in the third quarter when a six points-to-two sequence had Canberra threatening a comeback.

Shaneice Swain got more involved after a quiet start by her standards to fire up the 1421 fans at the National Convention Centre.

READ MORE CANBERRA CAPITALS NEWS:

Capitals coach Kristen Veal would've been impressed by her team's late fight to bring it back to a 12-point game at the final turn.

However there would be no fairytale finish on Sunday, with Southside running away with the victory.

The Flyers now move to 5-3 to stay in the top half of the WNBL ladder, while Canberra will still search for their first win on Wednesday when they host the Perth Lynx.

"To be in the same arena as Lauren, it was nostalgic and fun and I have so much pride for her as a player, a mum and a businesswoman and everything else she's doing," Veal said of facing former teammate Jackson.

"I had to hold myself back a few times from making some jokes to get at her a bit though. But she was great."

Veal believes the Capitals are not far away from their breakthrough victory, having built some momentum in recent games and encouraged fans to stick with them.

"You can start to feel it rising and developing to play the way we want to," Veal said.

"They'll get a rest day tomorrow, Tuesday will be a solid hit-out and then we play Perth, Wednesday."

WNBL Round 6:

SOUTHSIDE FLYERS 92 (K Thornton 16, S Blicavs 16) bt CANBERRA CAPITALS 72 (N Munger 19, J Melbourne 17).

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