For sixteen years, the Australian women’s basketball team won a medal at every Olympic games, winning bronze medals in 1996 and 2012 with silvers in 2000, 2004
and 2008. But for two straight Olympics, the Opals as they are nicknamed, fell short of their goals, getting eliminated in the quarterfinals in both the 2016 and the 2020 games. However, that all changed this year when Stanford’s very own Alanna Smith helped bring home the team’s first Olympic medal in 12 years.
Smith, who plays in the WNBA for the Minnesota Lynx, played a key role for the Opals during the team’s Paris campaign, starting at the power forward position for a majority of the run and averaged 11.5 points per game in six games played, averaging 22.7 minutes per game,. Her best game come against Serbia in the quarters, where she scored 22 points in 28 minutes, while adding 13 rebounds en route to helping the Aussies take home the 85-67 win.
“It’s a challenge for sure because you’re trying to focus on your everyday which is the WNBA season and we play so many games back-to-back-to-back,” Smith said in a Bally Sports interview with Lynx assistant coach Rebekkah Brunson. “So you have to be focused because one day you’ve got a game and then you’ve got rest the next and then you’ve got another game, like you have to be locked in.
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