Opals beat Argentina in Rio

Australia have beaten Argentina in the women's basketball match at the Rio Olympics test event.

Australia's Suzy Batkovic

A 37-point performance from Suzy Batkovic has helped defending WNBL Townsville to a 97-83 win. (AAP)

The Australian women's basketball team have beaten Argentina 87-37 in their opening game of the Rio test event.

Designed to give Australia a feel of the Olympic host country as well as give the team a hit-out against international competition, coach Brendan Joyce was able to rotate through almost his entire squad.

The only player that did not receive court time was Tessa Lavey, with tightness in her hamstring forcing her to miss the contest.

The Opals shot out of the blocks with a 9-0 run, leading by 18 at quarter-time.

They extended the margin in each following period, shooting 44 per cent from the field and restricting Argentina to 26 per cent shooting, a statistic that particularly pleased Joyce.

"Our defence was very good, I did not actually expect it to be that good. We had only two training camps before the game but I was happy with our execution," he said.

Joyce was able to give every player at least nine minutes of court time while no player exceeded more than 24 minutes.

Suzy Batkovic led all scorers with 16 points and 11 rebounds in just 19 minutes while Katie-Rae Ebzery (11 points), Bec Allen (ten points, nine rebounds) and Nat Burton (11 points, six rebounds and two blocks) also reached double-figures.

Erin Phillips, playing her first game since suffering a knee injury in the WNBA late last year, shook off any cobwebs with eight points and seven assists, sharing the point guard duties with Leilani Mitchell who added another eight assists.

The Opals will back up with another performance on Sunday morning (AEDT), facing the inexperienced Venezuela team before a clash with the host country, Brazil, on Monday morning.


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Source: AAP



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