{"id":825706,"date":"2026-07-26T22:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/825706\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T22:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:05:08","slug":"opals-final-12-confirmed-for-fiba-womens-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/825706\/","title":{"rendered":"Opals Final 12 confirmed for FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Basketball Australia<\/a>\u00a0has announced the Final 12 athletes selected to\u00a0represent\u00a0the\u00a0Australian Opals<\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a0FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup<\/a> set for Berlin from 4 \u2013 13 September.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Six members of Australia\u2019s bronze medal team from the Paris 2024 Olympics will return with the selection of Alanna Smith (Dallas, WNBA), Ezi Magbegor (Seattle, WNBA), Jade Melbourne (Seattle, WNBA), Isobel Borlase (Atlanta, WNBA), Sami Whitcomb (Phoenix, WNBA) and Steph Talbot (Las Vegas, WNBA).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Head Coach Sandy Brondello will lean on the leadership of captain Sami Whitcomb and the bronze medal stars from Paris to guide the Opals into one of the toughest tournaments in basketball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m very confident in this group. We have a great mix of experience, talent and chemistry,\u201d said Brondello. \u201cSami is the Opals captain and is an amazing leader. She will well supported by Ezi, Alanna, Steph and Jade,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile our preparation is short with this full group, we trust the work we’ve done over the past few years, we believe in each other, and now it’s about being at our best when it matters most. If we play to our identity, we know we can compete with anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brondello will be flanked by Associate Head Coach Paul Goriss and assistants Renae Garlepp and Kennedy Kereama.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brondello is preparing for her third FIBA World Cup campaign and stands as the longest-serving Opals coach in the history of the program. The two previous endeavours resulted in a silver in Spain 2018 and bronze in Sydney 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Toronto Tempo coach credited the work of her staff across the globe for their scouting and analysis to build a roster that will chase success in Berlin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur staff have done an outstanding job tracking players around the world since Paris. Australia is fortunate to have incredible depth, so selecting the Final 12 is never easy,\u201d said Brondello.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren’t just looking at talent – we were looking for players who fit our style of play, embrace what it means to represent Australia, and put the team first,\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith only three days together before the World Cup, continuity was an important factor. We felt that players who already understood our system, had built chemistry within the program, and could hit the ground running. We believe this group gives us the best opportunity to be successful in Berlin.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

22<\/p>\n

\n Zitina Aokuso
\n Centre\n <\/p>\n

55<\/p>\n

\n Chloe Bibby
\n Forward\n <\/p>\n

20<\/p>\n

\n Isobel Borlase
\n Guard\n <\/p>\n

34<\/p>\n

\n Isabelle Bourne
\n Forward\n <\/p>\n

23<\/p>\n

\n Alex Fowler
\n Forward\n <\/p>\n

13<\/p>\n

\n Ezi Magbegor
\n Forward\n <\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

\n Jade Melbourne
\n Guard\n <\/p>\n

12<\/p>\n

\n Steph Reid
\n Point Guard\n <\/p>\n

11<\/p>\n

\n Alanna Smith
\n Forward\n <\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

\n Steph Talbot
\n Guard\n <\/p>\n

32<\/p>\n

\n Sami Whitcomb
\n Guard\n <\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

\n Alex Wilson
\n Guard\n <\/p>\n

Guard Steph Reid has been rewarded for a solid three-year stint playing across Australia, China, and Hungary.\u00a0\u00a0Reid was recently announced as a marquee signing for the incoming Tasmania Jewels franchise and played a leading role in Australia\u2019s breakthrough Asia Cup campaign.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ally Wilson\u2019s selection marks another major milestone in her journey with the Sydney Flames recruit enjoying a meteoric rise. Wilson was a central piece to the 3×3 Gangurrus on their Paris Olympics run in 2024 and has found new levels playing 5v5 in the WNBL and WNBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chloe Bibby provides a powerful scoring option to the Opals with recent experience playing for Uni Girona CB in Spain and currently Chicago in the WNBA. Alex Fowler has been rewarded for her outstanding form, highlighted as FIBA Asia Cup MVP and a central piece to the Townsville dynasty in the WNBL.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Isabelle Bourne adds length and defensive strength to the Opals roster and will complement the work of Zitina Aokuso. Bourne and Aokuso present a versatile and dominant tandem, which was on display at the Asia Cup and recent Opals vs China series in Melbourne.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The campaign for the Opals will tip off against Puerto Rico on Friday, 4 September<\/a>\u00a0at 5:30pm AEST.\u00a0Check the full schedule of group stage games here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first mission for the Opals will be to progress from Group C, pooled with Belgium, Puerto Rico and Turkiye.<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow all of the action live from Australia and New Zealand with official broadcast partner\u00a0ESPN<\/a>\u00a0and affiliated streaming services.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Australia v Canada | Highlights | #FIBAWWC 2026 Qualifying Tournament<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Basketball Australia\u00a0has announced the Final 12 athletes selected to\u00a0represent\u00a0the\u00a0Australian Opals\u00a0at the\u00a0FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup set for Berlin from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,83],"class_list":["post-825706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825706","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=825706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}