Jamaica's goal shooter, Romelda Aiken (right), and New Zealand's goal defence and captain, Casey Williams, tussle for a rebound, during last night's opening game of their two-Test NCB Sunshine Series, at the National Indoor Sports Centre. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Jamaica's Sunshine Girls will have to extend the wait for their second win against New Zealand, after going down 56-61 to the visitors during the opening game of the National Commercial Bank Sunshine Series, inside the National Indoor Sports Centre last night.

The girls, who were level at 50 going into the last five minutes, will now turn their attention to tomorrow night's final game, as they look to level the series against the Silver Ferns and close their international calendar on a high note.

Tuesday night's meeting was the first between the two teams on local soil since 2005 and the first since the Jamaicans' 49-59 semi-final loss at the 2007 World Netball Championships in Auckland.

In an evenly contested affair, the New Zealanders had to dig deep to pull off the victory after quarterly scores of 17-17, 29-31 and 43-46 in favour of the Kiwis.

Team played well

"I thought the team played really well in parts," said Jamaica's coach, Connie Francis. "We came out with a lot of intensity and guts and showed real determination. We still need to protect the ball better and I believe there were some questionable calls towards the end as well."

New Zealand's coach, Ruth Aitken, was happy and credited the Jamaicans for a tough game.

"It was an amazing game. It was very competitive, but I'm happy for the win," Aitken stated. "The girls played really well under pressure and all respect to the Jamaicans."

Jamaica's Romelda Aiken scored 35 goals from 42 attempts, with Simone Forbes getting 21 from 23. New Zealand's Irene Van Dyk contributed 28 from 31 for her team.