OLYW - Opals win but still not firing on all cylinders

LONDON (Olympics) - Australia clinched second place in Preliminary Round Group B of the Olympic Basketball Tournament for Women on Sunday with a 72-63 win over Canada, but the Opals weren’t all smiles as they left the court.

Australia seemed to have a vice-like grip on their game against the Canadians but Allison McNeill’s team battled back from a 19-point deficit to trail 55-53 midway through the fourth quarter on Sunday.

Belinda Snell, one of the Opals’ headline-makers at the London Games, nailed a three-pointer to calm Australian nerves.

Canada pulled to within 62-59 on a Courtnay Pilypaitis three-ball with 1:08 to go, but Australia made 10 straight free-throws to ice the win, including eight from Lauren Jackson.

The Aussies, 4-1, will face either China or Turkey in the Quarter-Finals.

Australia won their opener against Great Britain, 74-58, but after a 74-70 overtime loss to France, they have been pushed to the very end by Brazil (67-61), Russia (70-66) and Canada (72-63).

Immediately after Sunday’s win, Australia’s veteran point guard Kristi Harrower spoke to FIBA.com.

FIBA: Kristi, it’s hard to get a feel for what this Australia team can accomplish this summer in London.
Harrower: It's sort of hard to get into a bit of a rhythm. I don't know if it's just changing combinations around but we're just making hard work for ourselves and we don't have to.

FIBA: You went up by 19 and Canada came back gradually. Is there a tendency to relax?
Harrower: It's a quality group - every team in our section. They've (Canada) only lost games by four or five points, so they're a quality group. They work hard, they run their stuff really well. They went to a zone and maybe we went a bit negative but you've got to stay mentally tough and we wanted to blow the game out if we could and we're not doing that right now.

FIBA: You have played at every Olympics since the Sydney Games in 2000. Is this year’s women’s tournament the most level of all?
Harrower: For sure. I think that France showed that, they've won all their close games. Especially our section has been really tough. I haven't seen much of the other section. Great Britain have stayed with teams. You can't just walk onto the court and win every game. Every game has been tough.

FIBA: Are we going to see Australia start putting teams away in the knockout stages?
Harrower: I hope so. That's what we would like to do but we just seem to be struggling, just not doing what we need to do. We're a different group, don't have Penny Taylor and people like that and there is a bit of a change in the Australian team, so, we've got six rookies. It's just about staying mentally tough. We're used to having that swagger as one of the power houses of women's basketball and we need to get that back.

FIBA: There was a real danger of Australia losing this game by several points and becoming a fourth seed.
Harrower: We had to win this game. If we'd lost this game, we would have finished fourth and we would have met USA in the quarters, so, we finished second. I think we'll meet China in the other section and then meet USA probably in the Semi-Finals. I think it's the first time since probably 1996 that we've met USA in a semi and not in a Gold Medal Game at an Olympic Games.

FIBA: Are you and the other players going back to the locker room, everyone thinking, "That was a good win" or "What's wrong, girls"?
Harrower: Probably a bit of both. We need to work out why we can't blow teams out or just get a lead and stay with it. That's what Opals are usually like but this time, we've struggled with it. It's a win, I'll take a win any day and hopefully we'll go to the next round and be better.

FIBA