AUS/NZL - Penaluna delight as Opals stamp Olympic ticket

BRISBANE (FIBA Oceania Championship for Women) - The Australia Opals are off to their fifth straight Olympic Games after a hard fought 92-73 win over the New Zealand Tall Ferns to clinch a 2-0 victory in the Oceania Championship for Women.

Australia have won the past three Olympic silver medals, and they will likely welcome back a bevy of WNBA stars - including Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor and Liz Cambage - for next year's Olympics in London.

On this night though, it was the tall trio of Suzy Batkovic (19 points, 9 rebounds), Abby Bishop (14 points, 7 rebounds) and Elyse Penaluna (17 points, 8 rebounds) who led the way as Australia used an early lead and a 46-28 rebounding advantage to secure victory.

The Tall Ferns were led by Natalie Taylor and Micaela Cocks, who both collected 17 points and 5 rebounds, never giving up in what were inspired performances.

For Penaluna, 23, who won a silver medal at the 2007 FIBA U21 World Championship for Women but has yet to play at a senior world championship or Olympic Games, qualifying for London is a special achievement. "It's everyone's dream to go to the Olympics," she said with a smile as wide as Sydney Harbour.

"It's a pretty awesome feeling, but it wasn't just me it was the team that did it tonight," she added. "We knew what we had to do tonight to achieve our goal."

Penaluna, who plays club basketball for Aix En Provence in France, knows she now faces the challenge of trying to make the Olympic team. "I've got a lot of work to do, but the help of Graffy (Carrie Graf) has been fantastic, and I'll keep working and hopefully I'll continue to improve."

Like game one, Australia started the quickest, taking a 22-8 point quarter time lead, with Batkovic a handful inside. Just as the game seemed out of hand, Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe nailed a long three-pointer for New Zealand, followed by two from Cocks to close the score to 26-21.

With Taylor dangerous in transition the Tall Ferns would close to 36-33, before some late undiscipline allowed Australia to extend their lead back out to seven at half time from the free throw line.

The second quarter was played almost entirely on New Zealand's unpredictable terms, but the Opals adjusted over half time, attacking the Tall Ferns pressure defence and capitalising on their transition opportunities, a late three-pointer from the 193cm Penaluna giving the hosts a 67-51 lead.

While Taylor would put on a show in the last quarter for New Zealand to reduce the margin to 10, the size and teamwork of the Opals never allowed them to seriously challenge.

Game three will be played in Sydney on Sunday night. Australia have qualified for the London Olympics, while New Zealand will contest the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women next year.

Post-game quotes:

Carrie Graf (Australia, coach):
This was about finding ways to win, this was about the outcome. Credit ot this particular team of Opals for doing their job and guarantee qualification (for London). They (New Zealand) are a sporting nation who battle hard, as are Australia, so we knew it was going to be a fight. Credit to them, they are undersized but they play hard and they play physical.

Kennedy Hamilton-Kereama (New Zealand, coach):
I give credit to Australia, they made us shoot some really tough shots early in the game. I thought for the most part we made them play an up tempo style of game. When we can get those stops defensively and not give up the offensive rebound, it allows us to get out and run and play one-one-one on offence, and I was really happy with the way the girls really backed themselves in those situations.

FIBA