Opals win in battle of the fallen favourites

KARLOVY VARY: The Opals have rebounded from their crushing quarter-final loss to the Czech Republic for a consolation 78-73 victory against world No.2 Russia in their classification game at the basketball world championship.

The win means the defending champions will now face either France or Korea in a battle for fifth place on Sunday.

Liz Cambage finished with 19 points and eight rebounds for the Opals, while Lauren Jackson (17 points, nine boards) and Penny Taylor (19 points, eight boards) also stepped up after disappointing efforts against the Czechs. Svetlana Abrosimova, a teammate of Jackson's at Seattle, was on target for the Russians, scoring 20 points.

For Australia and Russia to meet in the classification rounds is an enormous fall from grace for two powerhouse nations accustomed to Olympic and world championship podiums, including a meeting in the 2006 final won by the Opals.

Neither team had missed out on a Olympic or world championship medal since the 2000 Olympics, where Russia finished sixth, but they both will in the Czech Republic.

The Australians have dominated head-to-head battles at major tournaments for more than a decade, beating them in the semi-finals at the 2008 Olympics and in the gold-medal match at the 2006 world titles. And they still haven't lost to Russia in a major tournament since a semi-final defeat back at the 1998 world championship.

After such a pulsating game in front of a packed crowd in Friday night's prime-time clash with the host nation, there was a terribly hollow atmosphere in a match that tipped off at 1.15pm local time between two fallen giants.

The shock of Friday's result was still evident on Australian faces on the way to the game and during the warm-up, as the reality of the situation hit home.

A small pocket of Australian and Russian fans did their best to boost their teams, but there were empty seats everywhere in a game where both nations struggled to produce any sort of intensity.

The game started with the Australians opening up a 14-6 lead before Russia closed with an 8-0 run as a low-quality quarter fittingly ended tied at 14-14. A 13-4 streak by the Russians gave them a 34-25 buffer late in the half, but the Australians reeled off seven unanswered points to end the half down 34-32. The Opals then won the third quarter 18-14 to give themselves a two-point lead heading into the final term and hung on for victory.