A ruthless finish, spearheaded by a fiery defence, has seen the Silver Ferns bounce back from their shock loss to England for a big 57-36 win in Porirua this evening to level the Taini Jamison Trophy series.
After their stunning 54-55 loss to England's development-focused side on Sunday, the Silver Ferns appeared to come out with a point to prove in front of a sold out Te Rauparaha Arena crowd.
It started at the back, with Kelly Jury and Phoenix Karaka playing with a chip on their shoulder and looking to dish it out to any English player daring to step inside their circle.
Jury and Karaka brought the intensity the Silver Ferns were missing in the first Test and it quickly overwhelmed the inexperienced England side, as the Ferns jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the first quarter.
"I wanted to prove that we could step up," Karaka said after the match.
"We executed our gameplan and played as a team and as a unit defensively, our mid-courters were contesting ball on the circle edge which was creating a lot pressure on their feeds and we were able to get tips in the circle."
Making good on the defensive dominance at the other end was goal attack Ameliaranne Ekenasio, who was doing much of the early shooting after her partner and Test debutant Amelia Walmsley started with two misses.
But as the lead grew, so did Walmsley's confidence and she started to find her place on the court with some quick feeds from Mila Reuelu-Buchanan and Maddy Gordon.
That allowed the Ferns to carve out an impressive 17-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, but much like the opening Test England showed they weren't out of the fight and responded with a big second quarter of their own.
Roses coach Liana Leota made swift changes to her side to get them out of their rut and it worked, with their offence finding their feet and more pressure on the defence slowing the Ferns' quest for an equaliser.
In particular, the introduction of Ellie Rattu at wing defence for England gave the Ferns' attack problems before the break and England used it to the fullest to go on a five-goal run to end the half down only 27-23.
That was the highlight of the night for England though, as the Ferns and their physicality - led by Karaka and Jury - began to wear the Roses down.
Karaka finished with seven gains and two intercepts when the dust finally settled and Jury was right there alongside her with an intercept and five gains of her own. Both also had two deflections each which resulted in gains as well as two rebounds.
It equated to an England attack that simply folded under the pressure with a subpar shooting performance of just 67.3%.
Meanwhile at the other end, Ekenasio [21 goals from 23 attempts] and Walsmley [36 for 41] combined for a 89.1% night as coach Dame Noeline Taurua allowed her starting seven to play the entire 60 minutes unchanged.
The Ferns outscored the Roses 12-7 in the third quarter to build a comfortable lead before a ruthless final quarter scoreline of 18-6 sealed the deal.
"Tonne of relief," Ekenasio said shortly of the match.
"It was time for us to show a bit of heart, a bit of mongrel, show what's really in our bellies... we asked for a lot more from each other and we asked each other to dig deep and really grind."
Despite the blowout, Ekenasio added the Ferns know they still have things to work in, particularly after their lapse in the second quarter.
"We'll go away and look at that and try and be better again because we know that they'll come back."
The series now heads to a decider in Hamilton on Saturday.
New Zealand 57 [Amelia Walmsley 36/41, Ameliaranne Ekenasio 21/23]
England 36 [Sasha Glasgow 11/15, Berri Neal 18/24, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis 7/14]
Q1: 17-7 Q2: 27-23 Q3: 39-30
SHARE ME