AUCKLAND (FIBA Oceania Championship for Women/Olympics) - New Zealand's Tall Ferns are no strangers to playing on one of the big stages of women's basketball, the Olympics.

The Kiwis played at three consecutive Olympics, starting in 2000.

After missing out on the Summer Games in 2012, the aim is to make it to Rio but to do so, they'll have to knock off a powerhouse Australian Opals team in the 2015 FIBA Oceania Championship for Women.

This is a challenge the Tall Ferns are eager to face.

"We always believe we're going to beat Australia," New Zealand coach Kennedy Kereama said to FIBA.com.

"We are going to put ourselves in position to win games of basketball. 

"If I was the coach and didn't believe we could beat Australia, I wouldn't be the right coach for New Zealand."

The Aussies are No. 2 in the FIBA bwin Ranking Women, though, and looking like they are about to shift into a higher gear under coach Brendan Joyce.

Even without injured superstars Lauren Jackson and Liz Cambage, Joyce's team clinched third place at the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey.

They gave favorites and eventual champions USA their toughest game in the Semi-Finals.

History suggests that the Kiwis have a monumental task to defeat Australia because dating back to the 1974 FIBA Oceania Championship for Women, they have never done so.

In 2013, Australia won the first game, 66-50, in Auckland.

In the second encounter, the Opals won in Canberra, 84-66.

There are causes for hope for New Zealand.

"We believe in our preparation," Kereama said. 

"Our scouting is a massive part of that. We'll be sending out a lot of programming and bits and pieces like that in advance (to players) but there are barriers.

"We have been relatively undersized in the past. 

"We have a lot of great, young big kids coming through such as Megan Craig, Penina Davidson, all kids that have played Division One college in the U.S."

The 2.05m center Craig spent three years at the University of Albany and made the all-America East first team in 2013-14.

She led the conference with 1.6 blocks per game and averaged 12.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per contest. 

Craig graduated early and decided to take a pass on her final year of eligibility.

The 19-year-old freshman is logging big minutes and giving her team firepower inside and on the perimeter.

Each was in the Tall Ferns' 2013 FIBA Oceania Championship squad.

"For us, we just have to have that element of surprise," Kereama said. 

"We have to extend our defense and we like to change things up defensively.

"Offensively, in the past when we've been small, we've stretched Australia away from the basket and forced them to play us on the perimeter a whole lot more so their size is nullified by our speed and quickness. 

"That's basically what we try to do."

The experience of facing the Australians over the years is important.

"We also had a couple of players who have done very well against Australia in the past, both Micaela Cocks and Toni Edmondson, and they have been great for us," Kereama said.

Cocks was in the 2008 Tall Ferns' Olympic team while Edmondson has been in the senior team set-up since 2007. 

"But we're coming to a stage now where we have a bunch of young, talented kids coming through where we don't have to rely on two players anymore," Kereama said. 

"That's the reality.

"Also, (former Tall Ferns Olympian) Angela Marino has shown some interest in coming back."

Marino, 28, is a player with the WNBL’s Adelaide Lightning and is averaging 8.3ppg this season. 

She was the 12th leading scorer (14.9ppg) at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, when New Zealand stunned China and advanced to the Quarter-Finals.

The 1.66m playmaker was the third leading scorer (15.8ppg) behind Miao Lijie of China (17.9ppg) and Jackson (17.3ppg) at the Beijing Games.

Another possible addition to the backcourt is Erin Rooney, the starting playmaker of Arras in France.

"We'll consider everybody next time around," Kereama said.

"We do have a enough talent, it's just a matter of putting the group together and having a very robust program and preparation."

New Zealand Basketball is currently inviting applications for the coaching positions of both the men’s and women’s national teams, though in Kereama’s case it would seem a matter of protocol rather than the need to find a new coach.

He is doing a good job as a head coach in the WNBL with the West Coast Waves and probably has more insight than anyone else to the Tall Ferns program.

If you have never seen him in action, here is teaching fundamental drills in 2012.

The men, however, do need to find a new coach after Nenad Vucinic’s decision to relinquish the reins following the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

If, or once he is confirmed, Kereama will then keep his fingers crossed that the Tall Ferns will have a lot of preparation time for the FIBA Oceania Championship, and also that he is able to have as big a preliminary squad and training camp as possible.

"We've only had a matter of days to prepare to face Australia (in the past) but I'd certainly believe that with the right amount of time and resources, this program could compete with any program in the world," he said. 

"We've really done so many great things in a short space of time that I've been involved, such as beating China in China and just regular tours and competing against some great teams, Brazilian teams.

"Every time we play Australia, the margins are getting smaller and smaller for us. 

"In the past, it was a margin of 30, 40, 50 points but in rent times, we've gotten that down. 

"We know we are getting closer and every time we play them it's an opportunity to beat them."

The expectations are not soaring on the outside, either, which may be something that the Tall Ferns can use to their advantage. 

"The rest of the world sees us as underdogs and Australia sees as underdogs, so we go into it with nothing to lose," Kereama said. 

"The game plan has to be executed very well every time we take the floor because we don't spend as much time together as most teams would. 

"We are really jamming in a lot of information and preparation in such a short space of time.

"But we’ll believe in our chances."

FIBA