Basketball great Lauren Jackson has confirmed the World Cup bronze medal match will be her last for the Australian Opals, giving her teammates extra motivation to erase semi-final heartbreak.
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Jackson, 41, came out of retirement to play for the Opals this year and will link with the Southside Flyers for the WNBL season.
But the third-place play-off against Canada on Saturday afternoon will be her last Opals appearance, giving her the farewell opportunity she was denied six years ago.
Jackson retired from all basketball duties in 2016 when injuries forced her to say goodbye to the game.
This time she's going out on her terms, and a bronze medal would be a fitting way to end after golden dreams were shattered on Friday night.
The Opals are backing up to play for bronze just 16 hours after a semi-final loss to China.
"It just dawned on me that his will be my last game ever in the green and gold and how lucky I am to have had this opportunity to represent Australia and also say goodbye," Jackson said on Saturday.
"I didn't get that chance all those years ago. I'm so proud of our Opals girls and regardless of the result this has been the most incredible journey of my basketball life."
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Australia's next opponents Canada rested their entire starting five for the final quarter of their semi-final against the USA, who had built up an unassailable lead by the final change.
But Australia had no such luxury - the Opals were in the game against China until the final seconds of the 61-59 loss, prompting coach Sandy Brondello to keep her stars on the court.
On average, Australia's starting five played nine more minutes than their Canadian counterparts on Friday night.
The Opals defeated Canada in the group stage in what Brondello described as "a really tough game" but the coach said the quick turnaround could challenge Australia in their bid to make it two from two.
"Tonight obviously they didn't play their (star) players that much and we did," she told reporters.
"That's going to be another thing that weighs into that.
"We're going to have to rely on our depth and we're going to have to dig deep."
Darcee Garbin, Anneli Maley and Jackson will be the freshest heading into Saturday's bronze-medal tie, having played the least minutes of the Australians in the semi-final.
Jackson made it on court for under three minutes as Brondello favoured Marianna Tolo and Ezi Magbegor as match-ups for destructive Chinese centre Xu Han.
Brondello confirmed Jackson was in no doubt for Saturday despite her limited minutes.
"She was fine, I suppose it was just a match-up. Han was a handful," Brondello said.
"I was going to put (Jackson) back in if Yueru Li came back in and she didn't.
"Loz will be ready for tomorrow."
Another player with a chance to see more game time, Garbin said she was ready to readjust her focus from the last-gasp loss.
"It's hard," she said.
"As an athlete, you're always going to dwell on things. We're super competitive.
"But we're moving on to Canada. We're getting ready to get a bronze medal."
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