Opals emerge into quarter-finals, avoid clash with US

Clutch Cayla George buckets in a seven-point defeat of France have steered the Opals from oblivion, into the Paris Games quarter-finals and away from an early United States meeting.

Australia’s Olympic revival in Lille continued on Sunday with a 79-72 defeat of previously-unbeaten France, a dramatic conclusion to the women’s basketball pool stages before action moves to Paris.

The victory, after a shock first-up loss to Nigeria and defeat of Canada, ensured they progressed to the last eight.

But crucially the margin of victory boosted them to second in their pool and away from a potential quarter-final against eight-time defending champions USA when the draw is completed later on Sunday.

The US haven’t lost an Olympic game since 1992, currently riding a 58-game winning streak.

Needing to win by six points to jump Nigeria and finish second in the pool, they had built an 11-point lead in the final quarter but had it cut to one with four minutes to play.

The margin then danced around the magical figure, Sami Whitcomb’s superb drive to the bucket canceled out by a Marine Johannes triple.

Up four with 33 seconds to play George rescued a broken offensive play, his off-balance mid-range shot on target.

Johannes’s next three-pointer rimmed out, Steph Talbot hit two foul shots and Australia were up eight and happy to give up a lay-up rather than concede another three-pointer.

George, who had earlier hit a corner three, then sealed it from the line.

“Oh my gosh, there’s a lot of anxiety… to think about the scenarios, last game of the day, the 9 o’clock game, it’s almost my bedtime, I’m 35,” George said.

“That was a medal game for us. We lose this, we’re out. Win it by less than six, we’re potentially a crossover with the USA.

“It’s not really the easiest way to do it, but we certainly do find our way when our backs are against the wall. We really find out our true character.”

Sami Whitcomb, 36 and in her Olympic debut, continued her terrific form with 12 points, seven assists and one late turnover.

Steph Talbot had seven points, six rebounds and five assists, Tess Madgen (18 points) and Alanna Smith (12 points) all fired but Lauren Jackson wasn’t used.

An Australian loss would have meant they failed to make the quarter-finals for the first time since 1992, when they didn’t qualify for the Games.

They medaled in four straight Games but have missed the semi-finals in the last two editions, thumped in a quarter-final by the US to end an underwhelming Tokyo campaign.

France won both their first two games by 20 points and had beaten Australia in three of their last four encounters.