Ezi Magbegor’s terrific performance steered the Australian women’s basketball team to a Paris 2024 Olympics bronze medal at the Bercy Arena on Sunday.

The Opals defeated Belgium 85-81 in a thrilling bronze match for their sixth medal in Olympic basketball. The haul includes three silver and as many bronze.

Australia, world No. 3, had big contributions coming from Ezi Magbegor (30 points), Sami Whitcomb (14 points) and Alanna Smith (13 points). For Belgium, ranked sixth, Julie Vanloo scored 26 points and Emma Meesseman scored 23 points.

The 30 points were Magbegor’s career best, eclipsing the 24 points she scored last year against the Washington Mystics in the WNBA. She also managed 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks.

According to FIBA, Magbegor’s outing was the most efficient performance in Olympic history.

In fact, Ezi Magbegor is the first player to combine 30+ points and 10+ rebounds in a medal-winning game at the Olympics.

“It was the last game: bronze-medal game,” Magbegor said. “I have to give credit to my team-mates. They did a great job of holding it down throughout the whole tournament and showing up every day. They’ve done a great job rallying around me, too.

“We knew it was the last game. It was the last time for a lot of the Opals tonight, so just being able to show up and get the bronze.”

The opening two quarters had very little separating both teams. Ezi Magbegor led the charge in the opening 10 minutes, scoring 14 points to go with six rebounds.

Magbegor was assisted well in the second quarter by Sami Whitcomb as the Opals raced to a 32-25 lead. But Belgium went on an 11-0 run to eventually cut down Australia’s lead, heading into the half-time break at 37-36.

Despite Australia taking an eight-point advantage in the third quarter, Emma Meesseman and Julie Vanloo stepped up to bring Belgium back into the match. A three-pointer from Vanloo right at the stroke of the third quarter even pulled them into the lead, by a point.

However, the Opals found a way through in the final 10 minutes with Magbegor and Tess Magden (10 points) producing vital contributions. Alanna Smith too was among the points for the Aussies, who raced away to a seven-point lead with four minutes left and managed to hold tight until the final whistle.

“This may go down as one of the greatest wins in Opals history,” Opals coach Sandy Brondello reckoned. “I’m just really proud of this team. It has been a joy for me to coach. They buy in… It was about us making the plays when they mattered. We made shots and we got shots when we needed to.”

The legendary Lauren Jackson didn’t take the court in what is likely her final game in the green and gold but hailed Ezi Magbegor’s performance.

“Ezi was incredible,” the 43-year-old Lauren said. She came to play and seeing her dominate the way that she did today, look out.

“Ezi’s got it inside of her, and she’s got to be the one to bring it out. I don’t think anyone was in her ear any differently, she knew what she had to do. That was special to watch. She’s freaking amazing.”

The Opals, who began their Paris 2024 campaign with a defeat to Nigeria, turned things around with two consecutive wins to finish second in Group C.

After an impressive 85-67 win against Serbia in the quarter-finals, the Opals lost to the defending champions USA in the semi-finals.

Earlier, the Australian men’s basketball team reached the knockout stages but lost to Serbia 95-90 in the quarter-finals.