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Lauren Jackson scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Australia to a women’s basketball medal for the fifth Olympics in a row as the Opals beat Russia 83-74 on Saturday in the bronze-medal game.
Australia, which lost to the United States in the semi-finals, also took bronze at the 1996 Olympics and captured silver in 2000, 2004 and 2008 with losses each time to the US Women’s NBA stars in the final.
Jackson, the all-time Olympic scoring leader, boosted her career Games total to 575 points while Kristi Harrower added 21 points and Suzy Batkovic scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Australia.
Russia, which had taken bronze medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, was led by US-born Becky Hammon’s 19 points.
Batkovic scored 12 first-half points to help the Aussies seize a 38-30 half-time lead.
Alena Danilochkina scored on a steal and fast break layup to pull Russia within 38-35 just 84 seconds into the third quarter.
The Opals answered by scoring the next 10 points as part of a 18-4 Aussie burst for a 56-40 advantage, Jackson scoring six points to pace the burst.
The Russians went more than eight minutes without hitting a shot from the field, missing 17 in a row, and came no closer than 11 points until Anna Petrakova’s 3-pointer brought them within 72-64 with 3:19 remaining.
Hammon and Petrakova each hit two free throws to pull Russia within 76-71 with 1:20 remaining as Batkovic fouled out, but Jackson scored a layup and Harrower hit four free throws to hold off the late threat.