They then defeated China 83–42 in the quarter-final and Spain 72–66 in the semi-final to set up a gold-medal final with their long-time rivals USA. The Opals lost the game 73–56 with head coach Sandy Brondello stating a lack of offence proved their downfall. Liz Cambage led the tournament scoring with an average of 23.8 points per game and was named to the All-Star Five. Women's basketball was introduced as an Olympic sport at Montreal in 1976. From 1976 to 1992, only six countries (teams) participated in the Olympic tournament. However, in 1996 at Atlanta the tournament was expanded to twelve teams. Through the 2016 Olympics, Australia qualified for the Olympic Games through competing in the FIBA Oceania Basketball Championship held each four years in the year preceding the games. Typically, this tournament featured either a two or three-game series between Australia and New Zealand. With the Oceania Championship having been discontinued after its 2015 edition, and FIBA having removed all women's continental championships except for EuroBasket Women from the Olympic qualification process in 2017, Australia will qualify for future Olympics through a two-stage process, starting with an Olympic pre-qualifying tournament involving Asian and Oceanian national teams in the year before the Olympics and followed by a worldwide Olympic qualifying tournament held in the year of the Games. The first official Women's World Cup, known as the Women's World Championship through its 2014 edition, was held in Chile in 1953. The tournament was expanded to 16 countries (teams) in 1990. Since 2017, Australia qualifies for the World Cup through competing in the FIBA Women's Asia Cup, held each four years in the year preceding the Women's World Cup. Before then, Australia qualified through the FIBA Oceania Championship. Typically, this tournament featured either a two or three-game series between Australia and New Zealand. FIBA discontinued the Oceania championships for both women and men after their respective 2015 editions, combining FIBA Asia and FIBA Oceania into a single zone for purposes of World Cup and Olympic qualification. Commencing in 2017, teams from Oceania and Asia zones competed together for the first time ever with the top four finishing teams qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. Roster for the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. The following is a chronological list of Australian players who have played at official senior FIBA international tournaments (Olympic Games and World Cups). The list includes both past and present players.