Emerging Opals come out strong in #Napoli2019

Basketball – The Emerging Opals started off slowly but took control with a strong 68-51 win over Finland in the opening round of the 2019 Napoli Universiade.

It was all about the size for the UniRoos. Finland were hot from the outside with 10 three-pointers, but the power in the paint kept Australia ahead the entire game. Wake Forrest psychology student Alexandra Sharp almost had a double double with 15 points and nine rebounds and Eziyoda Magbegor (psychology, Deakin University) settled into her role down low with a team high of 17 points.

“I thought it was a great first game,” Head Coach Shannon Seebohm said.

“We’ve only just gotten together so it gave us an opportunity to get know each other even more and I thought our effort levels defensively were great, particularly coming out of half time we did a really good job.”

The Emerging Opals outrebounded Finland 41 to 26.

“The challenge for us now is to just keep working and get better,” Seebohm said.

“We are just one game at a time at the moment. Not getting too far ahead of ourselves. We’ve got a tough pool so a really tough game tomorrow coming up.”

The Emerging Opals play again Thursday against Canada at 17:30 CEST (1:30 AEST). The Emerging Boomers start their Napoli campaign Thursday at against Israel at 17:30 CEST (1:30 AEST).

Diving – Nicholas Jeffree (University of Technology Sydney) came out strong after his 26th finish in the 1m springboard on Tuesday. The health student qualified for the semifinals in the 3m springboard with a total of 317.40 in 13th place. The semifinal and final will take place on Thursday 4 July at 15:00 CEST (23:00 AEST).

Holly Cushing (Health, Australian Catholic University) and Sophie Johnson (Commerce, The University of Melbourne) both kicked off their 2019 Napoli Summer Universiade today in the 3m springboard preliminaries. Neither were able to qualify for the semifinals, Johnson finished 17th with a total of 197.70. and Cushing finished 19th with a total of 191.35 points.