The Sunshine Girls ran riot in the fourth quarter - winning 18-9 - for a statement 11-goal victory despite leading by only two heading into the final quarter.
The Silver Ferns clearly missed Grace Nweke’s height in the shooting circle and were dominated by goal shoot Jhaniele Fowler at the other end.
The large defeat briefly put New Zealand’s place in the semifinals in jeopardy but South Africa’s 52-50 win over Uganda wasn’t enough for them to overtake the Silver Ferns on the table.
The Silver Ferns will now face England in the semifinals on Saturday night after they earned their first World Cup victory over Australia to top their group.
Dame Noeline Taurua opted for height in the midcourt to start, with Kelly Jury at wing defence and the Jane Watson-Karin Burger combination in defence.
Watson was clearly disadvantaged marking 1.98-metre Fowler, but Jury’s width in the midcourt made the Sunshine Girls work hard to find Fowler early on.
An intercept from Burger looked to have given New Zealand the edge, before a series of late turnovers saw Jamaica surge for a 15-11 first quarter lead.
Ekenasio’s first shot of the second quarter was blocked by goal keep Shamera Sterling, while Watson went tumbling the the ground at the other end tussling with Fowler.
Despite the flakey start, some gritty defensive efforts saw the Ferns power back into the contest, levelling the score at 18-all.
The crowd again played a gripping role in the match. While the Sunshine Girl fans looked to be outnumbered by their black-clad opposites, the Jamaicans were simply louder.
Singing and screaming (and booing) went on relentlessly from one side of the court, whilst the Silver Ferns fans simply sat quietly on the other.
Sterling was cautioned in the second spell for refusing to stand aside after getting penalised.
The sides went tit-for-tat almost for the rest of the quarter, before one of Heffernan’s passes was picked off and Jamaica snuck back out to a 26-23 halftime lead despite losing the second quarter 12-11.
Taurua again stuck with the starting seven for the third quarter, with Jury’s extra height preferred in the midcourt to the defensive circle.
Fowler continued to be a near unstoppable force in the shooting circle, with even Watson and Burger’s desperate attempts to pick off long passes repeatedly thwarted.
New Zealand remained even with the Jamaicans through most of the third quarter but almost had their good work undone when a basic pass from Jury to Heffernan went to ground.
Watson finally caught a break with some trademark deception, recovering a stray Jamaican pass which sailed over Fowler’s head.
New Zealand edged a fiery third quarter 16-15, closing the margin to just two goals heading into the final quarter.
Taurua again made no changes and the Silver Ferns attack briefly found a little more speed, with Ekenasio and Wilson making space next to the post.
However, a turnover in the Jamaican circle saw them push the lead back out to five goals.
The Sunshine Girls’ defensive pressure saw Burger penalised for holding and suddenly the advantage blew out to nine with less than six to play.
Phoenix Karaka was brought into goal keep for Watson with six minutes to play, signalling the Silver Ferns’ only change for the match.
However, Karaka failed to make an impact, the Jamaicans pressed further and New Zealand began to crumble, losing the final quarter 18-9 to concede their biggest-ever World Cup defeat.
As it happened in Cape Town:
Fulltime: Silver Ferns 48, Jamaica 59
First quarter: Silver Ferns 11, Jamaica 15
Second quarter: Silver Ferns 12, Jamaica 11
Third quarter: Silver Ferns 16, Jamaica 15
Fourth quarter: Silver Ferns 9, Jamaica 18
