But a 61-53 defeat to the Auckland-Counties Lady Hawks later in the day tempered the mood in the camp.
In a tightly contested match, the Hawks won the last quarter 20-14 to seal an eight-point win.
Breana Jones led the way with a game-high 21 points for the Hawks, while Bronwyn Kjestrup top-scored for the Goldrush with 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
The game was a rematch of last year's final and the Hawks have underlined their class with the win.
But the Goldrush showed enough in the defeat and the win against the Flyers to suggest it will be competitive again.
It led the Flyers through all quarters, opening up a 40-28 lead by halftime and extending the margin to 25 points by fulltime.
There was no standout individual performer, with the Southerners sharing the scoring load. Nicole Ruske, Natalie Visger and Kelly Groot all posted nine points.
Ruske also pulled down nine boards and her sister Aleisha nabbed 10.
Coach Todd Marshall described it as a positive effort to begin with.
"It was one of the games where the opposition would look at the score and say who do we guard?'' Marshall said.
"We just got a really good spread of scoring.
"It is just the way that match panned out. But, in saying that, we are going to have to be that team which spreads the load to be effective, so it was actually an ideal first-up game for us.
"There were some really good signs early on. We executed quite nicely but there were too many turnovers and that was typical of a first game.''
The Goldrush plays the Junior Tall Ferns and the Taranaki Thunder today and the Nelson Sparks tomorrow.
