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Australian Opals vs Turkey: Women's basketball World Cup live scores, blog

Elizabeth Cambage. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
Expert
25th September, 2018
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Australian Opals vs Turkey

Women's FIBA World Cup, pool games. Time: Q4 10'

Santiago Martin Arena, San Cristobal de La Laguna, Spain
Australia Turkey
90 SCORE 64
32 Q1 19
21 Q2 14
22 Q3 16
15 Q4 15

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The Australian Opals will be looking to tune up and book their spot straight into the quarter-finals at the FIBA women’s World Cup when they take on Turkey in their final group game.

With only the top spot in each group assured of a place in the quarter-finals and the rest having to play an extra game tomorrow, the Opals are in pole position to do just that.

After a win over Nigeria and belting Argentina, a win here will ensure they finish top of Group B and move straight through to the quarter-finals on Friday.

A loss though and things could get interesting, with percentage coming into play. Given Nigeria are likely to belt Argentina in the other game today, all three sides could finish on two wins, with the South Americans on zero.

Let’s not get things twisted though – the Opals will enter this match as heavy favourites.

It’s hard to be critical of a 41-point win, but the Australian coaching staff need to be. There were issues in the win over Argentina, with the side regularly turning the ball over and committing sloppy fouls in defence.

While it didn’t hurt them against the pitiful shooting of Argentina, it will when they start to take on the bigger teams in the quarter-finals.

Liz Cambage has been their best so far, putting up big numbers in both games, but she needs more support than she is currently getting, with Ezi Magbegor, Alanna Smith and Tess Madgen doing a good job from the bench.

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It was clear when Cambage was on the floor, Australia had one plan – pass to her and see what happens – and that needs to change if they are going to be a force in the competition.

Turkey could have made things really interesting with a winner takes all scenario in this game, but they fell to Nigeria by six points on Sunday.

It was a difficult loss for a side who started the tournament so positively against Argentina.

The combination of power forward Tilbe Senyürek and guard Isil Alben, alongisde Bahar Caglar will be crucial in this match if they hope to challenge the Opals.

Still, in a lot of ways, it was their defence which let them down against Nigeria. They need to get solid in the paint and attempt to slow down Cambage or things could get ugly early in the piece.

Prediction
Turkey will put up a stronger fight than Argentina did, but ultimately, they won’t be able to challenge the Australian side down the stretch in the fourth quarter.

Opals by 16.

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Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the Opals final pool game at the women’s World Cup from 8:30pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment below.

Gameinfo

Tip-off: 8:30pm (AEST)
Venue: Santiago Martin Arena, San Cristobal de La Laguna, Spain
TV: Live, Fox Sports
Online: Live, Foxtel app, Foxtel now
Referees: Antonio Conde (Spain), Alexis Mercado Pacheco (Puerto Rico), Daniel Garcia (Venezuela)

Australia (expected)
Point guard: Katie Ezbery
Shooting guard: Cayla George
Small forward: Steph Albot
Power forward: Bec Allen
Centre: Liz Cambage
Bench: Jenna O’Hea, Tess Madgen, Alanna Smith, Alex Bunton, Ezi Magbegor, Tess Lavey, Samantha Whitcomb

Turkey (expected)
Point guard: Isil Alben
Shooting guard: Ayse Cora
Small forward: Bahar Caglar
Power forward: Tilbe Senyurek
Centre: Quanita Hollingsworth
Bench: Asena Yalcin, Olcay Cakir Turgut, Cansu Koksal, Tugce Canitez, Merve Aydin, Ilayda Guner, Esra Ural Topuz

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