BEIJING (Olympic Test Event) - Emma Randall scored 14 of her 16 points in the first half and Natalie Porter led all the Opals with 19 as Australia beat Korea 78-71 on Wednesday in China.
After a rest day, the 2008 Beijing Basketball Test Event resumed at the Olympic gym and the Aussies prevailed to snap a two-game skid.
It was their first win since an opening day victory over the United States.
Jan Stirling, the coach of the world champion Opals, has not been the least bit concerned by results here.
Her only aim has been to spread out the minutes as evenly as possible to those players who made the trip and are vying for a place in the Olympic squad.
“This is going to be an even harder team to select than Athens,” Stirling said.
“As the head coach, and all of my coaching staff here know as well, it’s going to be a very difficult selection process, yet that’s the way it should be for an Olympic team.”
Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor, Kristi Harrower and Belinda Snell were four key players in the Opals’ gold-medal winning side at the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women and they would appear to be certainties for the Opals.
Snell, Harrower and Taylor have decided not to play in the WNBA this summer to rest up for the Beijing Games.
“Some of them have made the decision to come home after the European season instead of going to the WNBA, so we’re very fortunate,” Stirling said.
“So hopefully they will have some recovery time. I know their bodies need it right now.
“Lauren has different reasons as to why she has to do the WNBA, as does (Tully Bevilaqua).”
Korea’s Yeon Ha Beon drilled four of her 12 three-pointers and led all scorers with 20 points.
Duk Hwa Jung’s team did make things interesting in the fourth quarter, closing the gap to just three to two points on a couple of occasions, but the Opals held on.
Erin Phillips weighed in with 14 points and Rohanee Cox celebrated her 28th birthday by pouring in 13.
The Australians grabbed 48 rebounds to just 17 for Korea. Porter, Randall and Hollie Grima had seven boards apiece.
