Sue Bird, Leilani Mitchell advance to quarterfinals of FIBA World Championship

posted by Jayda Evans: Womens Hoops Blog
Thursday, October 2, 2014 at 5:26pm EDT

Jayda Evans covers college and pro women's basketball. While its her first year on the Washington beat, she has covered the Storm since its inception. She'll offer observations, critiques, occasional off-beat tales and answers to select e-mail inquires. Evans also has written a book on the Storm and women's hoops, called "Game On!"

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Point guards Sue Bird (USA) and Leilani Mitchell (Australia) helped their countries advance to the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey. Mitchell, who starred at Kennewick HS, qualified for the Opals national team because her mother is Australian.

The Americans will have a rematch with the French on Friday at 11:05am PT on ESPN3, the Watch ESPN app or NBA TV.

France advanced by defeating Brazil on Wednesday and defeated USA Basketball in an exhibition game in Paris last week. The Americans swept their pool play to automatically advance to the quarterfinals.

Bird is averaging 4.3 points, 2.7 assists and about 19 minutes as a starter for Team USA.

Mitchell missed the WNBA season with New York to vie for a spot on the Aussie national team. She is averaging about 15 minutes off the bench for the Opals, who will face Canada in the quarterfinals on Friday at 3:50am on ESPN3 or the Watch ESPN app only. The Canadians defeated Czech Republic on Wednesday to advance.

Should the Opals and Americans win their respective quarterfinal games, they would face each other in the semifinals on Saturday. The FIBA World Championship Finals are Sunday and will be televised at 11am PT on ESPN2.

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Jayda Evans: Womens Hoops Blog

Jayda Evans covers college and pro women's basketball. While its her first year on the Washington beat, she has covered the Storm since its inception....
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