Serbia’s in a tough situation. Its back is clearly against the wall when you look at the overwhelming talent, size and experience of the Aussies, who are looking to clinch a ticket to the semifinals for the sixth-consecutive Olympics.
Nevertheless, the Serbians know that they’re still capable of at least making it close. They have a trio of reliable scorers in Sonja Petrovic, Jelena Milovanovic and Ana Dabovic, who all should cause a few problems for the Australia’s defense.
Petrovic, who plays in the WNBA for the Phoenix Mercury, led Serbia in scoring during group play with 16.4 PPG. She also heads into tonight’s game against Australia fresh off back-to-back 20-point performance versus China and Senegal.
Milovanovic and Dabovic, meanwhile, have had a good share of brilliant moments in the tournament. The former is racking up 15.8 PPG, while the Los Angeles Sparks guard is contributing 12.2 PPG and 4.4 APG.
Australia closed out the group stage of women’s basketball undefeated (5-0) after disposing Belarus on Saturday, 74-66. It was not an easy win to say the least, as the Aussies had to rally back from a 13-point deficit to ultimately come out on top.
Leading the charge for the Opals was none other than Liz Cambage, the leading scorer (22.4 PPG) of the tournament. She came up huge down the stretch with a couple of clutch baskets and momentum-changing plays that helped her team complete the comeback. Cambage finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and an assist.
Now thanks to that win the Australians are set for a date with Serbia in the quarterfinals round today.
Another win for Cambage and co. should be in the bag especially since their European opponents will be much smaller, less skilled and not as experienced in comparison to them. The Serbians went 2-3 in group play and are allowing 81.2 PPG during that stretch, which is more than the Aussies’ own scoring average of 77.0 PPG.
