Penny Taylor, who is retiring at the end of the WNBA season, stood with her hands on her head when the horn sounded.
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“Our coach told us before the game we can play with them, they are not unbeatable”, said Ana Dabovic, who led Serbia on the scoresheet with 24 points.
When Australian captain Marianne Tolo’s layup attempt at the buzzer clanged off the rim the Serbian bench ran onto the court dancing in wild celebration while the Opals, chasing a medal at a straight sixth Olympics were left stunned.
The loss means Australia will not take home an Olympic women’s basketball medal for the first time since 1992.
“I’m just heartbroken at the moment”, said Australia’s Rachel Jarry.
Australia’s Liz Cambage, the leading scorer in the tournament through the group stage, scored a game-high 29 points and collected 11 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as Australia could not keep up with Serbia. The Serbians collected 15 steals and forced Australia to commit 25 turnovers.
The lead ebbed and flowed throughout a dramatic final quarter and the Aussies found themselves trailing by three points with a minute remaining and were unable to reduce the deficit.
Australia’s Elizabeth Cambage (8) shoots over Serbia’s Sara Krnjic, right, during a quarterfinal round basketball game at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016.
In the final quarter the two teams matched each other shot for shot with neither side managing more than a three-point advantage. “We’re disappointed, but credit to a team that played really well tonight”.
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“We always knew what we were capable of, what quality we had but we struggled to finish games”, said Petrovic. “Saw that she’s such an important piece of our team without her we weren’t winning that ball game”.
