Indiana Fever’s Kristy Wallace ‘a bag of tears’ after getting Australia Olympics team call

by Admin
July 9, 2024

INDIANAPOLIS — When Indiana Fever guard Kristy Wallace got the call Saturday morning, she couldn’t contain her emotions.

Australian national team and New York Liberty coach Sandy Brondello was on the other end, and she had news: Wallace was one of 12 players selected to the Australian women’s basketball Olympics team.

“I was just a bag of tears,” Wallace said. “And that was how the call went, but it was really special.”

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Selection to the Olympic team is something Wallace, a Loganholme, Queensland native, has been looking forward to since she started playing basketball.

“It’s really special, it’s definitely a dream come true,” Wallace said. “It’s something that I’ve dreamed of as a young kid, so to finally get my name brought up into the team was a really special moment.”

Wallace is averaging 5.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game this season for Indiana, starting 15 of the Fever’s 21 games so far.

There are six active WNBA players on the Australian roster, including Wallace, Bec Allen, Sami Whitcomb, Ezi Magebegor, Jade Melbourne, Alanna Smith and Stephanie Talbot. The team also includes three-time WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson, who at 43 will be playing in her fifth Olympics.

“That’s just an incredible dream come true for her,” Fever coach Christie Sides said. “We’re all really happy for her. It was cool to hear her say it, like when she called her family and talked to them and gave them a news, how awesome it was.”

Wallace is now one of two Australian Olympians on the Fever squad — Indiana video coordinator Tully Bevilaqua represented Australia in the 2008 Olympics, winning a silver medal.

“(Bevilaqua) just said, ‘Embrace the moment and enjoy it,'” Wallace said. “It’s really cool having another Olympian on the team, and just getting to learn off her throughout the season has been really good.”

Wallace said the Australian players in the WNBA and on the Olympic team talk pretty often — they have a group text chat. Wallace and the rest of the WNBA players on the team won’t be able to play with their Olympic teammates until they arrive in France because of the WNBA schedule; the league doesn’t break for the Games until July 18.

Team USA will play Team WNBA in All-Star weekend on July 20, but no Australia Olympians made Team WNBA. Those players could still be invited to participate in the skills competition or 3-point contest in Phoenix before heading to Paris.

Australia is ranked No. 3 in the world, behind the U.S. and China. Australia was put in Group B for group play to begin the Olympics, pairing them with Canada, Nigeria and France. The U.S. headlines Group C, and China is in Group A.

While Wallace’s ultimate goal is a gold medal, she knows it’s a tough task to take down a U.S. team which was won seven straight.

At the least, Australia wants a podium finish.

“The goal is a medal,” Wallace said. “We’re currently ranked third in the world, so we’re hoping that we can kind of go for one of those medals — try to get a gold — but be on the podium.”

Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67.