Australian Opals eliminated by China in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup

The Australian Opals have been eliminated from the FIBA Women’s Basketball Asia Cup on Saturday night in Sydney by China who are ready to play in a third consecutive tournament final.

Coach Seebohm stuck with the same starting five that won the do or die quarter final against Korea on Friday night of Alice Kunek, Tess Madgen, Darcee Garbin, Maddi Rocci and Lauren Scherf.

In the knockout semi-final Chine led 18-11 at the end of the first quarter led by Meng Li with five points of her own.

The Opals won the second quarter outscoring their opponent 21-17 and cutting the lead back to only three for China, with the score 35-32 heading into the halftime break.

Alice Kunek led the fightback for the Australian national team sinking ten points of her own, with two threes hit, in the second quarter.

The third quarter was all China’s outscoring the Australians 18-11 and heading into the final quarter 53-43 leaders, a deficit of ten points for the Opal to make up in the final quarter.

In the end the game was too far out of the reach for the Opals, as China ran away with the game 74-60 eliminating the host side from the 2023 FIBA Asia Cup.

Chinese national player and New York Liberty centre Xu Han starred in the game with a double double of 17 points and 15 rebounds, 11 of which were defensive making the feat even more impressive.

The winners led for 28:55 minutes of play and their bench proved far stronger than that of the Australians outscoring them 39-17.

The Opals will now play for bronze in the third-place game against the New Zealand women on Saturday afternoon and heading into an Olympic year, questions are sure to be asked and selection to go under the microscope.

The Asia Cup will be decided between five-time defending title holders Japan taking on China for the third consecutive time.

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