Smith perfect vs Ezi as Opals build toward Berlin

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Alanna Smith went 3-from-3 from the field and 3-from-3 from the line for Dallas on Monday, one of seven of Australia's World Cup 12 on a WNBA floor across three days.

That is the shape of Australia's build-up to Berlin as Australian Opals starters Smith and Ezi Magbegor went head-to-head in the Wings vs Storm front-court battle.

The Opals open against Puerto Rico on Friday, September 4, and the conditioning for it is happening in Seattle, Dallas, Phoenix, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Minneapolis, in games belonging to somebody else, against minutes nobody in green and gold gets to set.

Sandy Brondello said it herself when the squad was named. Three days is not a training camp, and it is why a Monday morning in Dallas counts for something.

Smith, 29, was the cleanest of them. She added four rebounds, a steal and a block in 22 minutes without committing a foul, and finished at plus 15 as Dallas beat Seattle 92-70.

Opposite her, in the first of the weekend's two all-Australian match-ups, Jade Melbourne, 24, was Seattle's best. She scored 15 on 6-from-12 shooting, made three of her seven attempts from beyond the arc and took two steals in 27 minutes.‍

Magbegor, 27, had the quieter night of the two Storm Australians, going 0-from-4 from the field for two points, both from the line, with four rebounds, three assists and a block.

The second all-Australian match-up went the other way, and it turned on a shooting night. Georgia Amoore, 25, scored 13 for Washington on 4-from-6 shooting, three of her four attempts from beyond the arc, as the Mystics ran down Portland 105-100. Nyadiew Puoch, 22, started opposite her and did not score, taking one shot in 18 minutes and picking up five fouls while Portland led by 11 midway through the third quarter and lost.

Neither Amoore nor Puoch is in the World Cup twelve, which is its own kind of answer about how deep this group runs.

Stephanie Talbot, 32, had the tidiest line of the morning. The Las Vegas forward went 4-from-5 from the field and made her only three-point attempt for nine points in 16 minutes as the Aces beat Toronto 88-78, against a side coached by another Australian in Sandy Brondello.

The day before, Atlanta's 99-89 win over Phoenix had put two Opals on the same floor seventeen years apart in age, and the younger one had the better night. Isobel Borlase, 21, came off the bench for 13 minutes and handed out six assists, more than any other Australian managed in any game across the three days, while scoring four points on 2-from-5 shooting.

Sami Whitcomb, 38, the Opals captain, had the harder evening: six points on 2-from-6, five assists against five turnovers, and five fouls in 28 minutes.

Rebecca Allen, 33, was the most efficient Australian in the smallest sample. She played 16 minutes off the bench for New York in a 109-102 win over Indiana and went 3-from-4 from the field, all three of them from beyond the arc, for nine points.

Anneli Maley, 27, did not play in that game. The New York forward was listed out, and that is a roster decision rather than a verdict on her, because she is on a development contract and is regularly held out to preserve her game eligibility.

Los Angeles beat Connecticut 77-68 and Indiana beat Chicago 113-90 with no Australian on either roster.

Two games remain in this run, and both carry an Australian. Minnesota host Golden State at 10:00am AEST on Tuesday, with Chloe Bibby, 28, and Miela Sowah, 26, on opposite benches. Atlanta visit Los Angeles at noon, with Borlase back on the floor.

Bibby is the one to watch, and not for the reasons a scoreline will show. She is in the World Cup twelve, and her entire Minnesota career to date is five minutes.