FIBA Basketball
AUS - Price Attack Opals defeat China in Opals World Challenge
CANBERRA (Opals World Challenge) - The Price Attack Opals were too good for China in their match at the AIS Arena on Tuesday night, the Australians defeating their opponents 79-58 in the Opals World Challenge in Canberra
CANBERRA (Opals World Challenge) - The Price Attack Opals were too good for China in their match at the AIS Arena on Tuesday night, the Australians defeating their opponents 79-58 in the Opals World Challenge in Canberra.
Lauren Jackson made 28 points in 22 minutes look like a walk in the park, top scoring for the match, and also dragging in six rebounds. Hollie Grima was also impressive for the Australians. She was given 20 minutes on court by Jan Stirling and responded with 12 points and eight rebounds.
“I thought that was our best game by far,” Laura Summerton said. “We played the full forty minutes and everyone got to contribute. We’re using Lauren a lot more now and we’re swinging the ball more and getting it through hands and defensively it was a really high quality game.”
Chinese guard Miao Lijie had 16 points to top score for her team.
The Price Attack Opals took the early lead with fast play and good shooting, however the Chinese managed to stay with them though some sharp shooting of their own.
The Opals dominance in the key started to show, through strong rebounding and post play; with Jackson standing out against her less experienced opponents.
Towards the end of the quarter, the Chinese started to exert more pressure on the defence and they pulled the score back slightly with good post moves being made by Liu Dan for China. Australia kept ahead though, ending the quarter in the lead, 22-15.
China missed their first shot of the second quarter and Erin Phillips made them pay, taking the rebound and sending a long bomb down to Jackson waiting under the basket. While she missed the basket, she drew another foul from the Chinese.
A second quarter competitive tussle for the ball ended with both teams having players on the floor and China drawing yet another foul, getting into more foul trouble with three in quick succession which sent the Price Attack Opals to the free throw line. By half time the Australians had increased the gap in the scores and led 47-28.
Jenny Whittle opened the scoring in the third quarter, and a Jackson rebound in the opening minute denied China a possession.
Miao Lijie made an impressive move and made a nice three; then, building on some strong pressure defence by the Chinese team the Price Attack Opals were beaten by the shot clock.
Australia still had a commanding lead going into the last quarter, 69-41.
In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, Jackson took a strong rebound and took it up the court to capitalise immediately. Late in the match, a fifth personal foul against Summerton led to her departure from the court.
“I thought I was only on about two or three fouls,” Summerton said in good humour after the match. “But it seemed like some came out of thin air!”
While Phillips continued to create scoring opportunities with her speed and strength in offence, the Opals could not capitalise and lost the quarter. China worked hard to drag back the score to 79-58 at the final buzzer.
“It’s very pleasing to come out with a young group like this and be ready to play,” Jan Stirling said. “We spoke about it and we knew that China were going to respond to their significant loss last night. It was important to us that we weathered the storm early and I thought they did really well.”
The Price Attack Opals will be taking on the USA on Wednesday night at the AIS Arena, in their toughest match of the tournament. The USA defeated the Opals by 20 points (83-63) in their match last Saturday night in Cairns.
Australia 79 – Lauren Jackson 28, Hollie Grima 12, Erin Phillips 9, Belinda Snell 9.
China 58 – Miao Lijie 16, Chen Xiaoli 11, Liu Dan 8.
China defeat Chinese Taipei in Opals Challenge
In their final game for the tournament China and Chinese Taipei started the last night of Opals World Challenge action at the AIS Arena in Canberra with China winning 91-61.
A valiant performance by the Chinese Taipei team, who are using the World Challenge as a learning experience for their young team, was not enough to stop the Chinese team; China’s Miao Lijie top-scoring with 19 points, Chen Xiaoli 15, and Chen Miao 13.
The game started tight, with strong moves to the basket giving China most of their points while Chinese Taipei stayed in the quarter through good defence and sharp three-point shooting.
China went to man-to-man defence in the final two minutes of the quarter, a successful move from coach Tom Maher, which forced Chinese Taipei to call a timeout to try and stem the flow. A few steals gave China a 23-18 lead at the first break.
An infectious Chinese Taipei crowd kept their side in the game despite the margin ballooning out to 18 points during the second quarter. Another flourish of points for China gave them a 45–30 going into the halftime break.
Team fouls proved costly for the Chinese Taipei team, reaching their five team foul limit mid-way through the second quarter. China made the most of their bonus points sinking 10 from 12 attempts.
Points during the third quarter for Chinese Taipei were few and far between with many shots failing to fall in - including open jump shots. Scoring only eight points to China’s 26 for the quarter, height proved the difference in this match, with China’s ability to close out on defensive boards a key to their 33-point buffer going into the final quarter.
China secured their lead from start to finish in the final term. The Chinese Taipei team managed to pull back a few points to go down by 30 points, 91-61.
China 91 - Miao Lijie 19, Chen Xiaoli 15, Chen Miao 13
Chinese Taipei 61 – Feng-Chun Chiang 13, Chun-Yi Liu 10
USA defeat Chinese Taipei in Opals World Challenge
The United States of America has continued to dominate the Opals World Challenge at the at the AIS Arena in Canberra, beating Chinese Taipei 91-66 on Tuesday night.
US veteran, Tina Thompson, was unstoppable for her team, scoring 28 points and pulling in seven rebounds. Youngsters Jessica Davenport and Seimone Augustus also contributed well for their team, scoring 13 and 12 points respectively.
Chun-Yi Liu was best for Chinese Taipei with 23 points, including three three-pointers. She also pulled in eight rebounds.
A run of three-pointers from both teams just three minutes into the game saw the score close early. Chinese Taipei took the early lead thanks to the superior shooting of Chun-Yi Liu, but some tight defence from Canberra Capitals import Alana Beard and sharp shooting from Tina Thompson helped the Americans stay in the quarter. Late in the term the Olympic and World Champions asserted their dominance with a quick scoring run to take the quarter 29-24.
Chinese Taipei refused to give up in the second quarter, with Chun-Yi Liu’s speed down the court proving too much for the Americans at times. A tricky behind-the-back pass in the open court from Candace Parker forced a time-out with the USA in front. Kara Lawson took over where Beard left off, moving the ball down the court confidently working with Thompson to further the lead. Despite powerful play from Feng-Chun Chiang, Chinese Taipei was unable to draw back the lead and trailed 54-38 at half time.
Tight defence led to numerous turnovers in Chinese Taipei’s key, and the Americans moved the ball up the court with ease. Poor rebounding early in the quarter proved costly for both teams, before Thompson and Parker once again injected some fire into the game with some strong offensive rebounds. Chinese Taipei continued to play hard, but the USA went into three-quarter time leading 76-53.
A charge was called on the USA’s Ruth Riley for a stray elbow early in the final quarter. Chinese Taipei missed a number of jump shots, which proved costly, and a run of points from the USA forced a time out. Despite having a very young and internationally inexperienced team on the court (including the Number 1 and 2 WNBA Draft picks) the USA still managed to increase their lead. The shorter Chinese Taipei team once again struggled with rebounds, taking only 25 for the match, while the Americans seemed to have found their form, pulling in 54 rebounds and taking out the game 91-66.
The USA are looking sharp ahead of their big clash against the Australian Price Attack Opals on Wednesday night at 8:00pm.
USA 91 – Tina Thompson 28, Jessica Davenport 13, Seimone Augustus 12
Chinese Taipei 66 – Chun-Yi Liu 23, Feng-Chun Chiang 12, Jui-Yu Lan 9
Basketball Australia
Lauren Jackson made 28 points in 22 minutes look like a walk in the park, top scoring for the match, and also dragging in six rebounds. Hollie Grima was also impressive for the Australians. She was given 20 minutes on court by Jan Stirling and responded with 12 points and eight rebounds.
“I thought that was our best game by far,” Laura Summerton said. “We played the full forty minutes and everyone got to contribute. We’re using Lauren a lot more now and we’re swinging the ball more and getting it through hands and defensively it was a really high quality game.”
Chinese guard Miao Lijie had 16 points to top score for her team.
The Price Attack Opals took the early lead with fast play and good shooting, however the Chinese managed to stay with them though some sharp shooting of their own.
The Opals dominance in the key started to show, through strong rebounding and post play; with Jackson standing out against her less experienced opponents.
Towards the end of the quarter, the Chinese started to exert more pressure on the defence and they pulled the score back slightly with good post moves being made by Liu Dan for China. Australia kept ahead though, ending the quarter in the lead, 22-15.
China missed their first shot of the second quarter and Erin Phillips made them pay, taking the rebound and sending a long bomb down to Jackson waiting under the basket. While she missed the basket, she drew another foul from the Chinese.
A second quarter competitive tussle for the ball ended with both teams having players on the floor and China drawing yet another foul, getting into more foul trouble with three in quick succession which sent the Price Attack Opals to the free throw line. By half time the Australians had increased the gap in the scores and led 47-28.
Jenny Whittle opened the scoring in the third quarter, and a Jackson rebound in the opening minute denied China a possession.
Miao Lijie made an impressive move and made a nice three; then, building on some strong pressure defence by the Chinese team the Price Attack Opals were beaten by the shot clock.
Australia still had a commanding lead going into the last quarter, 69-41.
In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, Jackson took a strong rebound and took it up the court to capitalise immediately. Late in the match, a fifth personal foul against Summerton led to her departure from the court.
“I thought I was only on about two or three fouls,” Summerton said in good humour after the match. “But it seemed like some came out of thin air!”
While Phillips continued to create scoring opportunities with her speed and strength in offence, the Opals could not capitalise and lost the quarter. China worked hard to drag back the score to 79-58 at the final buzzer.
“It’s very pleasing to come out with a young group like this and be ready to play,” Jan Stirling said. “We spoke about it and we knew that China were going to respond to their significant loss last night. It was important to us that we weathered the storm early and I thought they did really well.”
The Price Attack Opals will be taking on the USA on Wednesday night at the AIS Arena, in their toughest match of the tournament. The USA defeated the Opals by 20 points (83-63) in their match last Saturday night in Cairns.
Australia 79 – Lauren Jackson 28, Hollie Grima 12, Erin Phillips 9, Belinda Snell 9.
China 58 – Miao Lijie 16, Chen Xiaoli 11, Liu Dan 8.
China defeat Chinese Taipei in Opals Challenge
In their final game for the tournament China and Chinese Taipei started the last night of Opals World Challenge action at the AIS Arena in Canberra with China winning 91-61.
A valiant performance by the Chinese Taipei team, who are using the World Challenge as a learning experience for their young team, was not enough to stop the Chinese team; China’s Miao Lijie top-scoring with 19 points, Chen Xiaoli 15, and Chen Miao 13.
The game started tight, with strong moves to the basket giving China most of their points while Chinese Taipei stayed in the quarter through good defence and sharp three-point shooting.
China went to man-to-man defence in the final two minutes of the quarter, a successful move from coach Tom Maher, which forced Chinese Taipei to call a timeout to try and stem the flow. A few steals gave China a 23-18 lead at the first break.
An infectious Chinese Taipei crowd kept their side in the game despite the margin ballooning out to 18 points during the second quarter. Another flourish of points for China gave them a 45–30 going into the halftime break.
Team fouls proved costly for the Chinese Taipei team, reaching their five team foul limit mid-way through the second quarter. China made the most of their bonus points sinking 10 from 12 attempts.
Points during the third quarter for Chinese Taipei were few and far between with many shots failing to fall in - including open jump shots. Scoring only eight points to China’s 26 for the quarter, height proved the difference in this match, with China’s ability to close out on defensive boards a key to their 33-point buffer going into the final quarter.
China secured their lead from start to finish in the final term. The Chinese Taipei team managed to pull back a few points to go down by 30 points, 91-61.
China 91 - Miao Lijie 19, Chen Xiaoli 15, Chen Miao 13
Chinese Taipei 61 – Feng-Chun Chiang 13, Chun-Yi Liu 10
USA defeat Chinese Taipei in Opals World Challenge
The United States of America has continued to dominate the Opals World Challenge at the at the AIS Arena in Canberra, beating Chinese Taipei 91-66 on Tuesday night.
US veteran, Tina Thompson, was unstoppable for her team, scoring 28 points and pulling in seven rebounds. Youngsters Jessica Davenport and Seimone Augustus also contributed well for their team, scoring 13 and 12 points respectively.
Chun-Yi Liu was best for Chinese Taipei with 23 points, including three three-pointers. She also pulled in eight rebounds.
A run of three-pointers from both teams just three minutes into the game saw the score close early. Chinese Taipei took the early lead thanks to the superior shooting of Chun-Yi Liu, but some tight defence from Canberra Capitals import Alana Beard and sharp shooting from Tina Thompson helped the Americans stay in the quarter. Late in the term the Olympic and World Champions asserted their dominance with a quick scoring run to take the quarter 29-24.
Chinese Taipei refused to give up in the second quarter, with Chun-Yi Liu’s speed down the court proving too much for the Americans at times. A tricky behind-the-back pass in the open court from Candace Parker forced a time-out with the USA in front. Kara Lawson took over where Beard left off, moving the ball down the court confidently working with Thompson to further the lead. Despite powerful play from Feng-Chun Chiang, Chinese Taipei was unable to draw back the lead and trailed 54-38 at half time.
Tight defence led to numerous turnovers in Chinese Taipei’s key, and the Americans moved the ball up the court with ease. Poor rebounding early in the quarter proved costly for both teams, before Thompson and Parker once again injected some fire into the game with some strong offensive rebounds. Chinese Taipei continued to play hard, but the USA went into three-quarter time leading 76-53.
A charge was called on the USA’s Ruth Riley for a stray elbow early in the final quarter. Chinese Taipei missed a number of jump shots, which proved costly, and a run of points from the USA forced a time out. Despite having a very young and internationally inexperienced team on the court (including the Number 1 and 2 WNBA Draft picks) the USA still managed to increase their lead. The shorter Chinese Taipei team once again struggled with rebounds, taking only 25 for the match, while the Americans seemed to have found their form, pulling in 54 rebounds and taking out the game 91-66.
The USA are looking sharp ahead of their big clash against the Australian Price Attack Opals on Wednesday night at 8:00pm.
USA 91 – Tina Thompson 28, Jessica Davenport 13, Seimone Augustus 12
Chinese Taipei 66 – Chun-Yi Liu 23, Feng-Chun Chiang 12, Jui-Yu Lan 9
Basketball Australia