Opal-train continues through Commonwealth Games

The Australian Opals took another convincing win over a less-fancied Commonwealth nation on Saturday night, defeating Mozambique 104-26 in front of a packed and passionate crowd at Bendigo Basketball Stadium.

The Opals were well served by all players in the match, but top-scoring honours went to Lauren Jackson with 23 points. Jenny Whittle and Hollie Grima were the best rebounders with eight boards each.

Australia came out strongly in the first minutes of the game, rushing to an 8-0 lead before Mozambique upped their hustle on defence, slowing the scoring of the Opals. With five unanswered points, the Africans found themselves at 6-10 against the Athens silver medallists and were in as much shock as the crowd.

Australia regrouped and went on an 11-1 scoring run to finish the quarter, enjoying a 21-7 lead at the break. Co-Captain, Jenny Whittle, was leading the Aussies at both ends of the floor with six points and five rebounds. Rute Elias Muianga was best for Mozambique with five points and two rebounds.

Mozambique started the quarter with a successful free throw from Deolinda Muloi Gimo, but their scoring dried up as the Australians went on a 17-point scoring spree (38-8).

Jackson poured on eight points in the second term as Jan Stirling got the opportunity to run her bench.

With two minutes to go in the half, Mozambique’s Vaneza Lausen Tomas Junior finally sunk a two-pointer to take their score to 10, where it stayed until the long break. Australia finished the half with 41 points.

The Opals found their scoring ‘mojo’ in the third term, piling on 33 points. 14 of those points came from centre Jacinta Hamilton. Katrina Hibbert was her teammate’s go-to girl as well, adding seven points to take her total to nine. Jackson also added four third-quarter points.

Mozambique guard Valerdina Daniel Manhonga stole a sneaky ball in the dying seconds, running away for a lay-up on the buzzer to make the score 74-22 at the final break.

The Aussies continued to hustle on both offence and defence in the final term; bench players getting the chance to impress their coach and the crowd as they passed the 100-point mark while keeping their opponents to less than a third of that.

A Hibbert two-pointer took the score to 100, and frustration from Mozambique helped Hollie Grima add four more points to the score, finishing the match at 104-26.

“We certainly improved our execution in the second term,” Australian coach Jan Stirling said after the game. “We also held them very well defensively.”

“I though Erin (Phillips) came of age tonight,” she said of the 20-year-old South Australian. “She was probably our better performing point guard on the night.”

“Tully and Jae are great players,” Phillips said. “So I was very fortunate to play as many minutes as I did tonight.”

She finished the match with seven assists and four points.

“Mozambique were more physical than India,” Stirling added.

“They were a bit bigger and a little more unorthodox - skill wise they were about on par.”

“We will be pushed by England tomorrow night. From here on in, the tournament gets a lot tougher.”

The Bendigo crowd showed great sportsmanship, cheering Mozambique points almost as loudly as Aussie baskets towards the end of the match. Even with the crowd behind them, the Africans couldn’t reel in the Opals huge lead.

Jackson personally thanked the crowd at the end of the match, and the Bendigo fans gave her a huge cheer as she waved and smiled from the middle of the court. Fans (and even opposition players) lined up to get autographs and pictures after the match, to which Jackson happily obliged.