The Seven Consulting Opals dominated on night one of the 2023 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup, defeating the Philippines 105-34 at the Quaycentre in Sydney.
Lauren Scherf drained a two-point jump shot to kick off the Aussie’s Asia Cup campaign on home turf. From there the Opals dominated, holding a convincing lead by 33 points at the half.
The Aussies put their foot down throughout the rest of the game, led by Scherf and Darcee Garbin who top-scored with 17 and 18 points respectively.
It was a solid first outing for debutant, Chloe Bibby, who sunk her first points for the Opals in style, hitting a three-point bucket from the corner.
Bibby continued to dominate from deep and hit three from four, finishing with 11 points for the game.
Speaking to BA Media after the match, Bibby was thrilled to make her debut in front of her family.
“It’s an amazing feeling, feeling super honoured right now and glad we got the dub too. I saw my family and gave them a little thumbs up.
“I was really happy with everything all together, I mean obviously we just had a couple of lapses, but overall I think it was a great first hit out for us,” said Bibby.
Coach Shannon Seebohm was happy with the team’s efforts.
“I thought it was great, we’ve set a goal to be the best defensive team here and outside of the second quarter we definitely showed that. The girls played really hard and I feel like we’ve gelled really quickly.
“They impressed me but I thought Scherf had a good shooting night and hit some threes and she looked pretty good out there, and Tess [Madgen] controls the tempo pretty well.”
The next matchup is Australia and Chinese Taipei.
Tune in on ESPN via Kayo and Foxtel Tuesday night at 7:30pm AEST.
