Opals lose to USA in practice match
8/09/2006
The Defence Jobs Australian Opals have been defeated by Team USA 56-49 in North Carolina in the final warm-up game before the 2006 FIBA world basketball championship for women in Brazil, which starts Tuesday.
Penny Taylor top scored for Australia with 14 points. She was supported by Lauren Jackson who scored 7 points and guard Kristi Harrower who scored 7 points to go along with 10 rebounds and 4 assists.
Perennial WNBA All-Star Tina Thompson scored 15 points with 11 rebounds to lead Team USA.
Lauren Jackson got the scoring underway with a jump shot and the Opals narrowly led throughout the opening period before Team USA came back to lead 14-13.
Australia then shot poorly in the second quarter, scoring only four points to trail 25-17 at the half.
The Opals opened the second half with an 8-0 run before Team USA steadied with a time out and responded with an 16-2 run of their own, ending the quarter up 41-31.
Australia made a valiant run to get within 5 in the final quarter, but Team USA showed good discipline to hold on for victory 56-49.