The White Ferns will face England for the bronze medal after taking Australia to the final over but losing by five wickets at Edgbaston tonight.
It was a much more creditable performance from New Zealand after they had been crushed by the hosts in their final group game, a result that set up a semifinal against the tournament's firm favourites.
But Australia paced their chase well, surviving a few setbacks to reach their target with three balls to spare, and never seriously looked like ceding their chance to play for gold.
They will now do so against India tomorrow, while the White Ferns have 12 hours to prepare for a clash with a side who restricted them to 71-9 two days ago.
New Zealand will at least take some heart from pushing the best team in the world tonight, especially since the bowling effort was hindered by several missed opportunities.
"It's hugely disappointing," said veteran bowler Lea Tahuhu, whose performance gave her side some hope. "We created opportunities, we weren't quite able to take them, and we know that with the batting lineup that Australia had, we had to take those to put them under real pressure.
"But we're got to take a lot of pride and belief out of that going into tomorrow."
After Sophie Devine had top scored with 53 from 48 balls, Tahuhu proved the folly of initially omitting her from this squad - and excluding her from the national contract list - by taking 3-20 from four overs.
"It's nice to put a performance out there and get us off to a good start," she said. "At the same time it's really tough to take because we haven't got a win.
"For me, it's not proving myself. I try not to play like that - I don't think that helps me in any way.
"It's just about going out there and performing the way that I know I can, and hopefully put a little pressure on to continue to be able to play in this team that I love."
Considering the White Ferns began their innings tonight on the verge of calamity, 144-7 represented an admirable total.
After being sent in and seeing Suzie Bates chop on for a first-ball duck, Georgia Plimmer could hardly have asked for more difficult circumstances in which to make her maiden appearance. And the 18-year-old almost suffered a disastrous debut, being given out the very next delivery after being rapped on the pad before surviving on review.
Plimmer made 17 before Devine and Amelia Kerr laid the platform for New Zealand to post a competitive target, sharing in a 73-run stand from 64 balls.
The skipper looked in position to launch when her side reached 101-2 at the end of the 15th over but holed out after bringing up her 50. Once Kerr (40 from 36) also departed, the runs dried up, and only a couple of confident drives from Brooke Halliday lifted the total above 140.
Tahuhu immediately set about making that target more challenging, though. With her first delivery, she had Alyssa Healy strangled, and the next ball Kerr spilled a difficult chance at backward point to snare the prized scalp of Meg Lanning.
Her second over started with another drop, as Izzy Gaze failed to glove Beth Mooney's thick edge, before Tahuhu bowled out Lanning with a brilliant yorker.
Unfortunately for the White Ferns' chances, Hannah Rowe soon grassed a simple chance at mid off from Tahlia McGrath, leaving Australia in control at 75-2 after 10 overs.
Although Kerr ran out McGrath before Tahuhu had Mooney caught in the deep, Gaze missed two good stumping chances as Australia eventually advanced.
