WOMEN'S DAY FOUR BEIJING
On Sunday,
In the third game on the final day of the women’s preliminary round,
They led by a point at the first ten minutes and opened up a 30-23 lead midway through the second quarter, when the Opals captain Lauren Jackson struck form.
The Seattle Storm power forward, who was not impressed with her own game previously, scored 13 points, as the Jan Stirling-trained squad outscored their rivals 18-8 for the rest of the quarter to go into the changing rooms 41-38 ahead.
Suzy Batkovic had another impressive game for Australia with 18 points and four rebounds, while Penny Taylor showed her quality with an 11-point, 11-rebound effort.
“We were certainly challenged in a way that ultimately we’ll take a lot of positives from,”
“The girls were a little bit down at half-time,” she added.
“We knew that the third quarter was going to be a big one for us and I thought our defense in the third quarter was sensational. But against
“Of course we’re trying to get to the quarterfinals but we have to beat
“They are a really fast team. I think maybe even faster than
Like in their earlier games,
Tatiana Shchegoleva began the fourth quarter with a three-point play and the Russians stayed on top the rest of the way. The Spartak Moscow Region center topped the scoring for her team with 14 points.
“Don't think about us!” Shchegoleva exclaimed on the popular talks of a USA-Australia clash for the gold medal. “We have always said we were here for the medals and we will try to take gold.”
Rebecca Hammon and Maria Karpunina contributed 11 points each. Ilona Korstin stood tall under the board collecting 10 rebounds, to go with her 10 points, as
“Every game has been tough for us and today was no exception,” Russian forward Svetlana Abrosimova said. “It's tough. Every team is very competitive at the Olympics.”
“We are still trying to find our style, still trying to find our game. But I like the way we finish our games, somehow we find a way to win.”
Adriana Pinto, whose three-pointer gave
“We are sadder today than we were after our defeat to
“We were ready to play and we almost surprised the European champions.”
They led by as many as 15 before the Koreans scaled it back to 10.
Snytsina led the way for
“It’s a knock-out game on Sunday,” Korean captain Jung Sun-Min said underlining the significance of the final day’s proceedings.
On Sunday in the final games of the preliminary rounds, Australia plays Russia for top spot in group A, Brazil must win over Belarus to have a chance at the quarter finals and Korea and Latvia both tied on 5 points play to decide a next round berth. Lots of exciting games in theis group.
In group B the USA must be considered certainties against New Zealand, while China and the Czech Republic will fight for 2nd spot in this group and Spain should account for Mali to hold onto a place in the next round of games.
Australia 96 (Lauren Jackson 30, Suzy Batkovic 18, Penny Taylor 11) bt
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