Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nZitina Aokuso of Australia (L) and Isobel Borlase of Australia defend Ziyu Zhang of China during the match between Australia Opals and China at John Cain Arena on July 09, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Pockett\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The visitors stretched their advantage to 17 early in the third quarter before the Opals mounted a stunning fightback. Alex Wilson sparked the comeback with three three-pointers, her only field goals of the night, helping Australia erase the deficit.<\/p>\n
A dominant 31-15 third quarter saw the Opals storm into a 62-60 lead entering the final term, setting up a tense finish that featured multiple lead changes and clutch baskets from both teams.<\/p>\n
Abbey Ellis of Australia shoots from the arc under pressure from Xinyu Luo of China during the match between Australia Opals and China at John Cain Arena on July 09, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Pockett\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Roared on by the home crowd, Australia held its nerve in the closing moments. The Opals produced a crucial defensive stop on China\u2019s final possession, forcing a turnover with the visitors holding the chance to tie or win the game, securing the victory and completing the series sweep.<\/p>\n
Head Coach Paul Gorris said the shift started with a change in approach after halftime.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought our ball pressure and our defensive game plan were really good,\u201d Gorris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the first half we probably put a bit more pressure on ourselves because we weren\u2019t moving the ball, we weren\u2019t getting feet in the paint, and we were really tentative from the three-point line.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt halftime we wanted to play with more pace, spread the floor and shoot with much more confidence. I thought our pace was slow in the first half, but once we started playing with confidence, it all stemmed from our defence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opals veteran Cayla George, who withdrew from World Cup contention after announcing she is expecting her second child, addressed the team at half-time, with Gorris praising the veteran\u2019s passion and leadership.<\/p>\n
Cayla George celebrates with the coaching team of Australia after the match between Australia Opals and China at John Cain Arena on July 09, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Pockett\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cCayla\u2019s never short of a word and she\u2019s always going to speak her mind, she\u2019s very passionate about the Opals and Australian basketball. \u201d Gorris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get many opportunities to wear an Opals singlet and play at home in front of our home fans and we had to make the most of this opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina weren\u2019t going to walk in here and take the game away from us.\u201c<\/p>\n
The exhibition series provided valuable preparation ahead of the World Cup and gave several players the opportunity to strengthen their selection claims. <\/p>\n
Debutants Bonnie Deas and Sitaya Fagan impressed, while veteran Darcee Garbin continued her return to basketball after the birth of her daughter, Rose, as she pushes for a place on Australia\u2019s final World Cup squad.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Reid of Australia (C) celebrates with teammates during the match between Australia Opals and China at John Cain Arena on July 09, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Pockett\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Player Performances (Two-game average)<\/p>\n
Alexandra Fowler<\/p>\n
25:26 minutes, 9.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 4.0-5.0 FG (80%)<\/p>\n
Zitina Aokuso<\/p>\n
23:00 minutes, 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 6.0-12.0 FG (50%)<\/p>\n
Amy Atwell <\/p>\n
10:59 minutes, 2.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, 0.5-6.0 FG (8.3%)<\/p>\n
Bonnie Deas<\/p>\n
2:26 minutes, 1.0 points, 0.5 rebounds, 0.5-1.0 FG (50%)<\/p>\n
Abbey Ellis<\/p>\n
7:16 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.5 steals, 1.5-3.0 FG (50%)<\/p>\n
Stephanie Reid<\/p>\n
21:04 minutes, 10.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 4.5-8.0 FG (56.3%)<\/p>\n
Darcee Garbin<\/p>\n
11:15 minutes, 5.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals, 2.5-8.0 FG (31.3%)<\/p>\n
Alicia Froling <\/p>\n
5:45 minutes, 1.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.5-1.5 FG (33.3%)<\/p>\n
Sitaya Fagan<\/p>\n
10:27 minutes, 4.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, 0.5 steals, 0.5 blocks, 1.5-4.0 FG (37.5%)<\/p>\n
Courtney Woods<\/p>\n
19:16 minutes, 6.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 2.0 steals, 1.5-3.5 FG (42.9%)<\/p>\n
Alex Wilson<\/p>\n
25:06 minutes, 7.0 points, 1.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.0-8.0 FG (25.0%)<\/p>\n
Maddison Rocci<\/p>\n
14:54 minutes, 6.0 points, 1.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 steals, 2.0-3.5 FG (57.1%)<\/p>\n
Isabelle Bourne<\/p>\n
23:06 minutes, 10.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.0 blocks, 4.5-8.5 FG (52.9%)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Australian Opals have completed a hard-fought series sweep over China, continuing their preparations for the 2026 FIBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-790548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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