Australia’s starting World Cup front court \u2013\u00a0Magbegor and Smith \u2013\u00a0is back from injury and building.<\/p>\n
Australia’s starting 2026 World Cup front court Ezi Magbegor and Alanna Smith <\/a>both showed glimpses of their quality in limited minutes on Saturday.<\/p>\n Magbegor<\/a>, 26, scored 12 points in 14 minutes for Seattle, going 4-from-7 from the field and 3-from-3 from the line and adding two steals. Smith<\/a>, 29, put up 11 points and five rebounds on 4-from-6 in 18 minutes for Dallas.<\/p>\n Between them that is 23 points on 8-from-13 shooting in 32 minutes of court time. Neither played half a game.<\/p>\n The minutes are the point. Magbegor missed Seattle’s first 20 games with the foot injury<\/a> she suffered playing for Australia in the World Cup qualifiers, and has come back on a restriction. Smith’s season has been broken up by injury since a preseason facial fracture<\/a>, and she returned to limited minutes of her own, a fortnight after telling this masthead she felt great heading into the World Cup.<\/p>\n Australia opens against Puerto Rico in Berlin on 4 September. Five weeks. Both players start.<\/p>\n What their minutes do between now and then matters more to the Opals than either result did, and on Saturday the production was already ahead of the workload.<\/p>\n Around them it was a hard day for Australians on losing teams.<\/p>\n Jade Melbourne<\/a> produced the most complete Australian line of the day and went home beaten. The 23-year-old ran the Storm offence for 25 minutes, handed out six assists, took three steals and scored nine points on 2-from-7 shooting. Seattle have now lost eight straight and sit 6-25, last in the Western Conference, in a 98-89 defeat to Atlanta.<\/p>\n Isobel Borlase<\/a> took three shots off the other bench, made one, and left with the best plus-minus of any Australian in the league. The 21-year-old scored three points in 14 minutes and finished plus-7. Atlanta have won five in a row and sit second in the East at 18-10.<\/p>\n