Brondello looks back on Opals' FIBA Women's World Cup campaign

QUEENSLAND - Australia Women's Head Coach Sandy Brondello reflected on her team's FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2018 campaign that netted them a silver medal finish against the USA.

Although the Opals fell short of the gold medal in their 56-73 loss to the USA in the Final, the current Phoenix Mercury head coach in the WNBA was nonetheless proud of her their team's performance.

"We are very proud of our effort. It's not easy to win a medal in any major tournament. I hope everyone sees it, that this team have such great chemistry. On and off the floor. I think that helped us to play good basketball," she shared.

The Opals dominated their way to the playoffs with an impressive run in the group stage taking wins over Nigeria (86-68), Argentina (84-43), Turkey (90-64) while also eliminating China (83-42), and host Spain 72-66 in the Quarterfinal and Semifinal round respectively.

"I thought our preparation was good. We haven't spent much time together but it all came together rapidly so it's a testament to the players. They really bought into what the coaching staff preached and tried to be the best team we can be," said Brondello who won a Silver medal with the Opals in the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Brondello emphasized that the current team is still young and they have the potential to become stronger for future events.

"We have a young team and we got a lot of experience here. We also had to go through some injuries. Now it's just to continue the develop our players to get stronger and better in all aspects of their game if we want to compete and win against teams like the USA," she shared.

"Right now we just want to focus as a nation to get ourselves better and that will make us better as a team to keep us moving forward," she added.

The Queensland native also shared how appreciative they are of the support they got received from their fans.

"We got a lot of messages online and Basketball Australia did a great job in promoting and supporting on social media," Brondello shared.

"Everyone in Australia is supporting us and it's great that even former players like Lauren (Jackson) commend our efforts, we love them and appreciate all the support we get," she ended.

FIBA