Serbians stun Aussies to reach women’s hoops semis

RIO DE JANEIRO: Australia will not take home an Olympic women’s basketball medal for the first time since 1992 after Serbia shocked the Opals 73-71 in Tuesday’s Rio Games quarterfinals.
Ana Dabovic scored 24 points, Jelena Milovanovic added 17 and Sonja Petrovic contributed 13 points and five assists to spark the Serbians, the only team with a losing record to reach the medal playoffs.
“When you look at the quality in the roster or the names on the paper, they have the better team,” Petrovic said. “When you look at the energy and heart, that’s where we were able to win out.”
It was a gut-wrenching end for the Aussies, who were unbeaten in the group stage and had taken silver medals in 2000, 2004 and 2008 and bronze in 1996 and 2012.
“I’m just heartbroken at the moment,” said Australia forward Rachel Jarry.
Reigning European champions Serbia were elated, dancing in celebration at midcourt after the final horn.
“I’m really happy,” Dabovic said. “We showed we’re not European champions by accident.”
Serbia will face the winner of a later game between Spain and Turkey in a Thursday semifinal to decide a berth in Saturday’s gold-medal game.
“I know we can take it one step further because I know we have it in our hearts,” Petrovic said. “We played for 40 minutes. We finally played like it was now or never.”
Five-time defending champion United States will face Japan and France will meet Canada in other quarterfinal matchups Tuesday.
Australia’s 26 turnovers led to 27 Serbian points while the winners made only nine turnovers to set up eight Aussie points.
“Turnovers, defense, we struggled to contain them,” Aussie forward Penny Taylor said. “Containment was a big issue. Throwing the ball away was a big issue. Not the way we wanted to play. Credit to them for the way they played.
“It sucks (losing), but I’m always proud to play for my country.”
Elizabeth Cambage scored 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Opals but was in tears moments after the final horn. She received a desperation toss from Marianna Tolo at the finish but could not deflect the ball into the hoop to force overtime.
“We remembered what our coach said — they are not unbeatable. We can play with them,” Dabovic said. “That was our time to play 40 minutes. We gave away everything and played with our hearts.”
Australia’s Leilani Mitchell scored eight points in an 11-4 run to open the third quarter, giving the Opals a 48-39 lead.
Serbia responded with a 12-2 spurt to reclaim the lead at 51-50 and the game stayed tight into the final minutes.
Cambage, the 2.03m center who scored nine of the last 13 Aussie points, sank an inside jumper to give the Opals a 67-66 edge with 2:03 to play.
Milovanovic and Sonja Petrovic followed with back-to-back layups to give Serbia a 70-67 lead with one minute to play.
Cambage responded with a lay-in to pull the Aussies within one, Dabovic answered with a short jumper for Serbia but Cambage scored inside again to lift Australia within 72-71 with 15 seconds remaining. Dabovic then made 1-of-2 free throws to create the final margin.
“The main reason we won is we believed,” Dabovic said. “We went into the game believing we could win.”