New Zealand have kickstarted their Constellation Cup defence with a shock 56-48 win over Australia at Auckland's Spark Arena.
Given the Aussies' historic dominance of the trans-Tasman rivalry, victory was surprsing enough, but the margin was even more so, perhaps flattering the Diamonds in the final analysis.
An 11-goal outburst in the opening quarter propelled the Silver Ferns into a commanding lead early and while they wilted somewhat over the middle stages, the NZ women hung tough down the stretch, rebuilding a double-figure advantage near the death.
"What I'm really proud of is we went out there and did what we said we were going to do," reflected captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio. "It was so hard out there, but we still executed, but there's so much we can work on, I'm really excited about how we can build into the next game."
In her 50th test in charge of the national team - and Ekenasio's 50th oncourt - coach Dame Noeline Taurua pulled a masterstroke in selection, recalling midcourt Peta Toeava into the squad and thrusting her straight into the starting line-up.
Toeava's feeding combination with shooter Grace Nweke has paid dividends for Northern Mystics in the ANZ Premiership and extended to the next level, with Nweke producing the best performance of her young international career.
"One thing I'm really proud was she was able to sustain four quarters against Australia," Taurua said of Toeava. "When she's on, she's on fire.
"We saw snippets of that tonight and it's just how we can extend that out in her game, but I'm really proud of her."
At the other end of the court, Australia were missing pregnant shooter Gretal Bueta, forcing coach Stacey Marinkovich into mass changes in the attack circle, trying to find someone to fill the void.
Her cause wasn't helped by an inspirational performance by Ferns defenders Phoenix Karaka and Kelly Jury, who were probably instrumental in their team's ability to repulse a late comeback from the Diamonds.
Karaka finished with five intercepts and was rewarded with Player of the Match honours, while Jury's long-limbed leans put the Aussie shooters off their mark. Both teams attempted 61 shots at goal, but Nweke and Ekenasio found their target with a combined 92 percent.
While her counterpart constantly shuffled her deck, making five changes, Dame Noeline stuck with her starters throughout, forced into a blood substitution on Karaka in the dying moments.
Australia closed to within three goals in the third quarter and were only six behind, heading into the final period, but could not complete the turnaround.
"That really made me feel good," confirmed Dame Noeline. "With this current crop, we're still learning on the trot and for us to whether the storm is massive for us, know we can do that."
The rivals meet again at Tauranga on Sunday, before heading across the Tasman for the return matches at Melbourne and Gold Coast.
Silver Ferns 56 (Nweke 40, Ekenasio 16) Australia 48 (Koenen 21, Wood 11, Austin 9, Garbin 7)
Join us at 7:30pm Sunday for live updates of the second Silver Ferns v Australia Constellation Cup test
