Australia's women basketballers are just one game away from qualifying for the Athens Olympic Games.

The Opals downed New Zealand 69-55 in front of 1400 spectators in Launceston in the opening game of their best-of-three series.

The teams play their second match in Devonport with the third, if needed, in Devonport on Sunday afternoon.

Opals captain Trish Fallon top scored for Australia with 23 points.

New Zealand's aggressive tactics got them into foul trouble early and allowed Australia's Alicia Poto to sink four free throws in the first quarter, taking the Opals to an 18-15 lead at quarter time.

NZ outscored Australia in the final quarter but the revival came too late.

Australian head coach Jan Stirling said the result was pleasing after a hard European tour.

"We knew they were going to be physical and it was a matter of having the presence and poise to play appropriately", she said.

"In the first quarter we were ordinary at blocking out, they had seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter."

New Zealand coach Carrie Graf said the loss to the third best team in the world was "a really good effort".

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