Opals beat China 69-59 in final game of tour OPALS co-captain Jenni Screen copped a shiner at the London Olympics and was sidelined again last night as Australia's women's basketballers schooled China 69-59 in China. Fearless Screen, whose black eye in London from a courageous head clash epitomised why new Opals coach Brendan Joyce was delighted to have her voted in alongside Belinda Snell as co-captains for the touring team, missed the match after suffering from a heavy knock in Friday's game two of the three-Test series. China won the series 2-1, with wins by 69-64 and 65-61 before suffering a 10-point loss to Joyce's inexperienced combination. Knuckling down defensively, the Opals held China to just 17 points across the second and third quarters, extending a 37-29 half-time lead to 51-40 with a period to play. "To come away with a win and to be so close in the other two games was a great result for this group and I think we can take a lot out of the tour building towards the Oceania Championship in August," Joyce said. Australia faces New Zealand's Tall Ferns in the two-match Oceania Series, the winner qualifying for next year's world championship. While several of Australia's first choice selections will be available for the series, many of Joyce's youngsters helped their selection chances with quality performances in China. Mariana Tolo led Australia's scoring in game three, with 14 points at 75 per cent, while Cayla Francis, Kelly Wilson and Snell all scored 12. Snell showed her quality throughout, leading the Opals by averaging a team-high 16.0 points per game through the tour. "The big thing with our performance was our ability to reach our targets we set out before the game," Joyce said. Our defensive pressure and work on the defensive rebounding was outstanding and really set up the double-digit win. The team did a brilliant job shutting down their interior scoring and forcing them to be a perimeter shooting team. Experienced guards Natalie Hurst and Kristen Veal stepped up in Screen's absence but there was little evidence of what was to follow when Australia led 24-23 at the end of the first quarter. In the second period, the Opals squeezed the offensive light out of China, holding it to a paltry six-point return. Australia gave up 11 points in the third as its defensive intensity laid the foundation for Joyce's first win as Opals coach. While the young Opals narrowly lost the series, the Boomers split their four-match series against China 2-2 and claimed the Sino-Australia Challenge on points spread. Follow Boti Nagy on twitter at @boti_nagy and at www.botinagy.com