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Lauren Jackson led the Australian Opals with 18 points and 10 rebounds in their opening game of the Beijing Olympics against Belarus, 83-64.

The Opals opened with some jitters but were able to build a 19-12 lead in the 1st quarter. By the half, the Opals had a 44-28 advantage over Belarus.

Jackson started a little rusty shooting only 38% but elevated in the 3rd quarter with 7 unanswered points.

“Our girls were challenged by the fact we have never played Belarus,” Australia coach Jan Stirling said. “For us it was a significant game and I think our recent loss in the Diamond Ball against the USA helped prepare us for today.

Suzy Batkovic, who had 14 points and 12 rebounds, said the match against the first-time Olympian Belorussians helped clear “my jitterbugs.”

“We have so much more to give. Our chances are extremely high at these Olympics - we’ve come here to take home gold,” she said.

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Lauren Jackson led Seattle (7-6) with 26 points. Sue Bird had 13 points and five assists. The Storm, coming off two road losses, had won their first six home games this season and a record-tying 10 in a row over the last two years.

But the Connecticut Sun snapped Seattle’s 10-game home winning streak with a 74-67 win over the Storm on Monday night.

“You always want to defend your home court coming off a two-game losing streak,” Bird said. “It was a chance to be back home in a comfort zone and to get back to playing well. I don’t think we played bad. But it’s tough losing this one.”

The Sun led 57-50 early in the fourth quarter before the Storm rallied to go ahead 65-63 on a basket by Sheryl Swoopes with 2:20 left.

Barbara Turner responded with a 3-pointer just before the shot clock expired to give the Sun a 66-65 lead with 1:15 remaining.

“Our offensive play broke down,” said Turner, who finished 4-for-6 from 3-point range. “Lindsay drove to the baseline and didn’t really have a shot, so I just slid to the corner and she found me and I knocked the shot in.”

Jackson answered with two free throws before Asijha Jones scored an inside basket to make it 68-67 with 42 seconds left.

After Jackson missed a 3-pointer, Lindsay Whalen made two free throws to push the lead to 70-67 with 27.8 seconds left. Swoopes then missed a 3-pointer and Whalen hit two more free throws to extend the lead to five. The Sun’s Tamika Whitmore then tossed in two free throws to end the game.

Turner, who played for Seattle in 2006, made two 3-pointers in the third quarter to help the Sun lead 55-50 after three quarters. The Storm led 50-47 before Turner hit a 3, Jones converted a three-point play and Sandrine Gruda scored an inside basket.

The Storm led by as many as 11 points early in the second quarter. But the Sun used a 22-10 run to lead 37-36 at halftime.

Frustrated about an 11-2 deficit and four quick turnovers, Sun coach Mike Thibault benched his starters less than five minutes into the game. The starters returned at the beginning of the second quarter and rallied from a 26-15 deficit.

“We’re good enough to have the depth to be able to do that,” Thibault said. “Our bench has been playing great most of the year. I thought they played really well and we got a spark from almost everybody.”

Asijha Jones led the Sun with 15 points, Barbara Turner and Lindsay Whalen had 13 each.

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Sue Bird, who entered her seventh season with career marks of 42.7 percent overall and 38.7 percent on 3-pointers, is having her worst shooting season — but it’s not even close to her worst scoring season.

Her worst field-goal percentage was as a rookie in 2002 when she shot 40.3 percent. Her 33.8 percent 3-point clip last year was a career-low.

But Bird isn’t rattled, since she’s doing what she’s paid to do better than any other player in the league — averaging a league-best 6.5 assists per game.

“It was just one of those days,” said the five-time All-Star after Wednesday’s game. “That’s life. Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don’t.”

Brian Agler isn’t worried. Sue Bird shakes it off as if it’s nothing. No one around Storm headquarters seems to be bothered by her staggering shooting numbers, but Seattle’s star point guard and two-time Olympian has been nothing short of brutal.

Of Seattle’s top seven players in terms of minutes, Bird is the only one below 40 percent from the field.

Bird’s field-goal percentage (32.7) ranks 120th overall in the WNBA. Of the league’s 15 guards who average at least 11 field-goal attempts per game, Bird is second-to-last in field-goal percentage — trailing only San Antonio’s Becky Hammon.

Bird’s 3-point field-goal percentage (20.5) ranks 82nd overall. Out of 42 guards with at least 1.6 3-point attempts, Bird ranks second-to-last — trailing only the Silver Stars’ Helen Darling.

“She’s going to be fine, there are no alarms right now,” explained Agler after Bird went 1-for-12 on Wednesday in an 83-77 home win over Phoenix. “Obviously we’re better if she shoots the ball well. But she’s not trying to miss.”

Fortunately for Bird and the Storm, they take on Darling and Hammon at 5 p.m. Friday in San Antonio. Their struggles are a big reason why San Antonio (4-4) has the second-worst shooting percentage (39.1) in the WNBA.

But this is a road game, and that always spells trouble for Seattle (7-3). With the Storm going 1-3 away from KeyArena so far in 2008, its all-time road mark sits at 47-90 (.343).

San Antonio is undefeated at home this year — including a 15-point win over Seattle on May 24.

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Lauren Jackson scored 16 of her 28 points in the first quarter and the Seattle Storm cruised to a 78-57 victory over the San Antonio Silver Stars on Friday night.

Seattle (4-1) raced to a 14-0 lead, with Jackson scoring the first 10 points, as San Antonio missed its first 15 shots. The Storm matched the the 2005 team, which also opened with four wins in five games, for the best start in franchise history.

“I was just trying to run with the flow and get myself involved,” said Jackson, who was 10-for-16 from the floor, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range.

San Antonio coach Dan Hughes credited Jackson with simply being too much, especially on a night when Silver Stars starting center Ruth Riley was out with a sprained ankle.

“Lauren was fantastic—she really set the tone for the basketball game,” Hughes said. “The reality is they outplayed us and they deserved to win. They made it a very physical game and were able to set the tone that way.”

Ann Wauters and Sophia Young scored 14 points each for the Silver Stars (2-2), who didn’t score a field goal until Young’s basket with 31.8 seconds left in the first quarter.

Swin Cash added 14 points for Seattle, and reserve Tanisha Wright had 10. Jackson pulled down nine rebounds, Yolanda Griffith had 10 boards, and Sue Bird handed out 10 assists. The Storm snapped a six-game losing streak against the Silver Stars, including an 87-72 loss at San Antonio last Saturday.

“We’re just getting more confidence playing with each other, and it showed tonight,” Bird said.

Erin Buescher had 10 points off the bench for the Silver Stars, and Young grabbed a team-leading six rebounds.

Wauters, who left the New York Liberty after the 2005 season but returned to action this year with San Antonio, got the start at center in place of the injured Riley.

“I’m getting there,” Wauters said. “I have to adjust. It’s very physical. It’s a different game than in Europe. The pace is faster and it’s just so much more physical. I feel pretty confident now within this team. It’s going pretty well.”

Seattle led from start to finish, and never by fewer than double digits after Jackson completed a three-point play to make it 10-0 with 7:06 left in the first quarter.

The Silver Stars didn’t get on the board until Young hit a pair of free throws with 4:35 on the clock.

“Being on the road, it’s always difficult,” Wauters said. “But when we start like that, it’s just really, really hard to come back in the game. They played good. I didn’t think we read how well they defended us.”

San Antonio shot just 28 percent (16-for-68) for the game. The Storm made 48 percent (30-for-62).

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