{"id":437638,"date":"2026-01-28T01:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T01:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/437638\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T01:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T01:56:09","slug":"sami-izzy-ezi-make-cut-for-opals-qualifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/437638\/","title":{"rendered":"Sami, Izzy, Ezi make cut for Opals qualifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five WNBA Australians headline Sandy Brondello\u2019s Opals squad for World Cup qualifying in T\u00fcrkiye<\/p>\n

Five Australians who played in the WNBA in 2025 anchor Sandy Brondello<\/a>‘s 12-player FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying tournament team in March 2026.<\/p>\n

Phoenix Mercury guard Sami Whitcomb<\/a>, Minnesota Lynx WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Alanna Smith<\/a>, Seattle Storm centre Ezi Magbegor<\/a>, Washington Mystics point guard Jade Melbourne<\/a>, Indiana Fever wing Chloe Bibby<\/a> and New York Liberty forward Steph Talbot<\/a> will all go to T\u00fcrkiye to help the Opals prepare for the 2026 World Cup in September. <\/p>\n

The Opals have already qualified after winning the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup.<\/p>\n

Australian Opals 12-player Team\u200dZitina Aokuso: UC Capitals, WNBLChloe Bibby: Uni Girona CB, Liga Femenina, WNBAIsobel Borlase: Bendigo Spirit, WNBLAlex Fowler: Townsville Fire, WNBLCayla George: Southside Flyers, WNBLEzi Magbegor: Seattle Storm, WNBAJade Melbourne: UC Capitals, WNBLSteph Reid: Sopron Basket, EuroCup WomenAlanna Smith: Minnesota Lynx, WNBASteph Talbot: Adelaide Lightning, WNBL, WNBASami Whitcomb: Be\u015fikta\u015f, Turkish Super League, WNBAAlex Wilson: Perth Lynx, WNBL<\/p>\n

Rising star guard Isobel Borlase<\/a>, 21, Opals veteran Cayla George, Townsville Fire’s Alex Fowler, UC Capitals centre Zitina Aokuso and Perth’s Alex Wilson have all made the team.<\/p>\n

Brondello cut Fire stars Miela Sowah, Courtney Woods, and Abbey Ellis, as well as Southside’s Maddi Rocci, and UC Capitals Sara Blicavs.<\/p>\n

FIBA Women\u2019s Basketball World Cup Qualifying Tournament<\/p>\n

Dates: March 11\u201318, 2026
Location: Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye<\/p>\n

Australia \u2013 Group Phase Schedule (AEDT)Argentina vs Australia
Wednesday, March 11 \u2013 10:30PM
IstanbulAustralia vs Japan
Thursday, March 12 \u2013 10:30PM
IstanbulAustralia vs Hungary
Saturday, March 14 \u2013 10:30PM
IstanbulT\u00fcrkiye vs Australia
Monday, March 16 \u2013 4:30AM
IstanbulAustralia vs Canada
Wednesday, March 18 \u2013 1:30AM
Istanbul\"\"The Australian Opals celebrate at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Photo: Basketball AustraliaAustralia Squad \u2013 World Cup Qualifying 19-player squadAmy Atwell \u2013 Perth Lynx (WNBL). Age: 27Abbey Ellis \u2013 Townsville Fire (WNBL). Age: 24Isobel Borlase \u2013 Bendigo Spirit (WNBL). Age: 21Jade Melbourne<\/a> \u2013 Canberra Capitals (WNBA \/ WNBL). Age: 23Steph Reid \u2013 Dongguan New Century (WCBA). Age: 29Maddy Rocci \u2013 Southside Melbourne Flyers (WNBL). Age: 27Alex Wilson \u2013 Perth Lynx (WNBL). Age: 31Courtney Woods \u2013 Townsville Fire (WNBL). Age: 28Zitina Aokuso \u2013 Canberra Capitals (WNBL). Age: 27Chloe Bibby<\/a> \u2013 Uni Girona CB (WNBA \/ Liga Femenina de Baloncesto). Age: 27Sara Blicavs \u2013 Canberra Capitals (WNBL). Age: 32Issy Bourne \u2013 Southside Melbourne Flyers (WNBL). Age: 25Alex Fowler \u2013 Townsville Fire (WNBL). Age: 24Miela Sowah \u2013 Townsville Fire (WNBL). Age: 25Steph Talbot <\/a>\u2013 Adelaide (WNBA \/ WNBL). Age: 31Cayla George \u2013 Southside Melbourne Flyers (WNBL). Age: 36Ezi Magbegor<\/a> \u2013 Seattle Storm (WNBA). Age: 26Alanna Smith<\/a> \u2013 Minnesota Lynx (WNBA). Age: 29Sami Whitcomb<\/a> \u2013 Be\u015fikta\u015f (WNBA \/ Turkish Super League). Age: 37<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five WNBA Australians headline Sandy Brondello\u2019s Opals squad for World Cup qualifying in T\u00fcrkiye Five Australians who played…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-437638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}