Coach Dame Noeline Taurua stuck with the same starting seven for match two, and it took them just 19 minutes to gain a 10-goal advantage. A lead they maintained for most of the remainder of the match.
The third quarter was the only one in which the Australians outscored the hosts; going into the fourth they still trailed by nine points.
Classy and crisp feeding into the goal circle was the difference on the night between the transtasman rivals, with Kiwi goal-shoot Grace Nweke landing 47 of 51 shots, while goal-attack Ameliaranne Ekenasio, netted 16 from 18.
The fans of Tāmaki-Makaurau erupted every time Nweke received a long ball under the hoop from midcourters Maddie Gordon and Kimiora Poi. Skipper Ekenasio also had her fair share of clean feeds into her goal-circle counterpart.
Things were different at the other end of the court where the Aussies struggled to find their shooters and to break the hold of the impressive touch-tight marking by New Zealand’s Karin Burger and Kelly Jackson. The pair caused many issues for the Diamonds’ attack, including forcing the goal-attack to do most of the shooting from length by double-teaming goal-shoot Sophie Garbin.
Wing-attack Claire O’Brien, a 2024 debutant, was New Zealand’s most-used substitute taking the court for 18 minutes of the contest and going on to claim five assists and an intercept.
Fellow newbie and goal-defence Parris Mason also earned minutes late in the fourth quarter, with veteran shooter Maia Wilson getting a couple of minutes at the end.
New Zealand head to Perth to play their rivals in match three on Sunday before the final clash in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Bonnie Jansen is a multimedia journalist in the NZME sports team. She’s a football commentator and co-host of the Football Fever podcast and was part of the Te Rito cadetship scheme before becoming a full-time journalist.