Barring a second-quarter hiccup, the Silver Ferns controlled their netball World Cup match to down world No.4 Jamaica 55-48 at Sydney's Olympic Park on Tuesday.
Starting with the same seven who two days ago upset Australia 52-47, New Zealand's hard-working defensive zone pressured Jamaica into early errors.
Ahead 10-5 after seven minutes, the Kiwis looked in control but Jamaica stormed back to cut the deficit to 14-11 at the first break.
But it was in the second quarter that the Sunshine Girls really let fly. They found rhythm and timing to win the spell 16-10 and take a 27-24 lead into halftime.
Well-fed by her midcourt, and splitting the circle beautifully with elusive goal attack Shanice Beckford, towering shooter Romelda Aiken's reliability under the post gave her 14 from 15 for the spell.
Jamaica won the quarter 16-10, shutting down New Zealand in their attacking third and restricting Kiwi shooters Bailey Mes and Maria Tutaia to 10 from 15.
Silver Ferns coach Waimarama Taumaunu was happy with the way her team responded after half time, as they managed to shut down Jamaica's flow in the centre third and restrict the supply of ball into Aiken.
"I think Jamaica are a very athletic and talented team, and they have a very good shooter, so it was a very rigorous assessment of us," she said.
"I thought our second quarter was pretty disappointing but apart from that I think we won each of the other quarters by at least three.
"Losing by six in one quarter was quite a big wake-up call, but I was pleased with the way we responded after halftime."
After a slow start, Jamaica worked hard to rediscover their rhythm, and Taumaunu says she would have expected the Silver Ferns to have adapted quicker to shut down their through-court flow.
"When a Jamaican team finds rhythm, I think you have to look at your own defensive efforts.
"I thought it was very dominated by centre pass receives by their goal attack down one side of the court.
"We didn't come to grips with that, which I would have expected our lot to have done earlier and better."
The Silver Ferns maintained their discipline, refused to take on the Jamaicans in the air, and showed excellent pace and timing through the midcourt.
They worked hard to regain lost ground in the third spell, the introduction of rangy goal defence Leana de Bruin, on for Katrina Grant, adding extra height in the circle and putting more pressure on Aiken.
At the other, New Zealand's accuracy on the shot was again off, hovering around 70 per cent compared to Jamaica's 90 per cent.
But with Mes and Tutaia putting up a massive 78 shots on goal to Aiken and Beckford's 53, accuracy was never going to be an issue.
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