Basketball On The Internet.

CHINA, besieged by relentless defensive pressure after halftime, was simply unable to stop a third quarter Opals fightback, squandering a 50-33 lead as Maddi Rocci orchestrated a 62-60 edge by the last break before Zitina Aokuso finished several big plays to underscore an 84-82 victory.

The match tonight at John Cain Arena completed a 2-0 sweep by the Opals after they took Game 1 on Tuesday 76-74.

But despite tonight's result producing the same margin, the game could not have been more different.

China was out of the blocks at 5-0, then when the Opals caught up, Ziyu Zhang, Siyu Wang and Yutong Liu were the architects of a 10-0 run for a 15-5 buffer.

Wang to Zhang with two seconds left in the first quarter, saw the 220cm prodigy beat the siren, China on a high ahead 19-10 at the first break.

With Xinyu Luo now also actively involved, China had its lead out to 18 at 45-27 but this time it was Sitaya Fagan who beat the halftime siren with a long range 3-pointer, the Opals down 31-45 at the interval.

Abbey Ellis ignited some life into Australia's offence with seven second-period points but when Steph Reid hurt her ankle 10 seconds into the third quarter, the future appeared bleak.

Ahead 50-33 on Ziting Tang's only triple 90 seconds into the half, the Opals were looking for a catalyst.

Rocci provided it, setting a tone with her exemplary defence and igniting the offence by pushing the ball hard at back-pedalling Chinese defenders.

Aokuso, Alex Fowler and Issy Bourne scored key buckets, Courtney Woods struck a threeball and Alex Wilson two triples in a 14-0 run that had the 6,000-strong crowd in full voice.

Wilson had three threes for the quarter, Fowler tied it up at 55-55, Darcee Garbin pushed Australia ahead and Rocci, the driving force behind much of it, scored a lay-up for a 59-55 buffer.

Australia compiled 31 points for the third period, matching its entire first-half output before the teams traded the lead throughout an entertaining final quarter.

Woods had her best quarter and Aokuso was big at both ends, scoring in heavy traffic but also completinfg the game-winning steal. Fowler had 11 rebounds, Australia's ball movement in the second half at times quite exhilirating. 

AUSTRALIA OPALS 84 (Aokuso 14, Woods 12, Bourne, Wilson 9; Fowler 11 rebs; Rocci, Wilson 5 assts) d CHINA 82 (Zhang 25, Wang 18, Luo 13; Zhang 11 rebs; Wang 7 assts).