CHN/AUS –Australia may be Penny-less in money time against China

BEIJING (Olympics) – Australia are sweating over the fitness of Penny Taylor ahead of their semi-final clash with China on Thursday.

Taylor was the most valuable player at the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women after leading the Opals to the gold medal, and she was in top form at the Beijing Games for the undefeated Aussies before spraining her right ankle on a drive to the basket in her team’s quarter-final demolition of the Czech Republic.

“If she is not ready to go that's sport,” said Australia coach Jan Stirling.

“Someone else has to step up. I feel for Penny as do the rest of the team. If it's not to be it's not to be."

The Australians will still be favored against China even if Taylor isn’t able to go, although the Opals know they won’t be able to spring any surprises as former Opals coach Tom Maher is the coach of the Chinese.

“I have a lot of friends on the Australian team,” said Maher, who also has Opals great Michele Timms as his assistant.

“They are playing us and I don't care about them at all, I just want to beat them."

One player who has really given the Aussies a lift has been 1.88m forward Laura Summerton, a member of the team’s gold-medal team two years ago who averaged 20 minutes per game in Brazil.

Summerton has averaged 8.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in Beijing.

Lauren Jackson will be counted on as usual to score, rebound and lead but something that she won’t be accustomed to will be that someone else will go into the same game from the other team averaging more points.

Miao Lijie has poured in 19.5 points per contest. She, along with Chen Nan (14.5pts) and Bian Lan (9.7) give the Chinese a lot of offense.

There will also be an interesting match-up at point guard, with Australia’s Kristi Harrower taking on Song Xiaoyun of China.

"We need to win the boards,” Stirling said.

“Nothing has changed for us. Much of our offense is created from our defensive pressure. China are pretty good from three point line and they can penetrate, they are going to present challenges for us.

“This is going to be a terrific semi-final.”

FIBA