Australia survive late charge by Brazil to win 67-61 – London Olympics Women Basketball Recap
The Australian women basketball team survived a late charge by Brazil to defeat them 67-61, handing the South Americans their third straight defeat at the London Olympics.
Aussies outscored Brazil in the first two quarters to take a comfortable lead into half time, but had to face a late charge from a motivated Brazilian side and narrowly escaped with the victory.
Lauren Jackson and Liz Cambage had standout performances for Australia on the night. Cambage scored a double-double, with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Jackson finished with a team high 18 points and 8 rebounds to lead the Aussies
to their second victory in the tournament.
Karla Costa finished with a game high 22 points, going 8 of 14 from the field for Brazil. But her valiant effort was not enough to prevent the third successive defeat for her team.
Both teams remained locked in a fight for the lead for much of the first period, but Australia took a 15-10 lead to finish the period after they went on a 5-0 run in the final 1 and a half minute of the quarter.
Australia went on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 21-12 in the early stages of the second period. They then ended the period with another 6-0 run, and further stretched their lead to 31-18. Brazil managed only 8 points in the
second quarter, as they struggled to convert plays into points. Their lack of aggressiveness allowed the Aussies to open up a double point lead by half time.
Brazil came back firing in the third period, and after Australia opened the scoring with a two point shot by Kristi Harrower, they went on a 10-0 out of which 5 points were scored by Costa. The run helped then cut the deficit to
33-28. After a few minutes of intense competition, the Aussies were once again able to dominate, scoring the final six points of the period to extend their lead back to 51-40.
Brazil attempted to take control of the game and come within striking difference of the Aussies throughout the final period, and came as close as cutting the lead down to 63-58 with a little over a minute left in regulation.
This was accomplished through a 9-2 run by Brazil, after Australia had a comfortable 61-49 lead. Jackson scored a two point shot on a crucial possession, stretching the lead back to 7. Costa then scored a three point shot to bring
Brazil within 4 points with just 16 seconds left. But Jackson showed poise when she nailed both of her free throw shots and sealed the victory for Australia.
Suzy Batkovic finished with 11 points and 6 rebounds for Australia, providing good support to Jackson and Cambage. Erika Souza finished with 11 points for Brazil, while Clarissa Dos Santos had 10 points and 6 rebounds for the night.
At 40.7%, Australia shot better from the field than Brazil, although they struggled from the three point line and went only 2 of 12. Australia also had a 50-40 advantage over Brazil in the rebounds category, and dished out 23 assists
compared to 11 for Brazil. They also had 12 steals to their name against 6 for the Brazilian side. The victory puts Australia in third place in Group B, while Brazil fall to the last place.
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