{"id":366163,"date":"2024-02-08T02:04:22","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T03:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=366163"},"modified":"2024-02-08T04:04:07","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T04:04:07","slug":"insane-age-gap-created-by-teens-opals-call-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=366163","title":{"rendered":"'Insane' age gap created by teen's Opals call-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Isobel Borlase entered the world in 2004,\ufeff Lauren Jackson<\/a> was already a two-time Olympian<\/a>, a triple WNBA All-Star and a WNBA MVP.<\/p>\n

In Brazil on Friday morning (AEDT), they will take to the court as Opals teammates.<\/p>\n

Borlase, 19, and Jackson,\ufeff 42, are among 12 Australian women in the Brazilian city of Belem for the Opals' Olympic qualifying tournament, in which they will face Brazil, Germany and Serbia as they vie for a spot at Paris 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Bol suffers setback in Paris Olympics build-up\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> League legend's 'tools' guiding Olympic star daughter\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Ponting's big prediction for emerging star's future<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

For Borlase, it's the beginning of what promises to be a long and illustrious career in green and gold. For Jackson, it's the next step in her remarkable international comeback as she dreams of suiting up for her fifth Olympic campaign and first in 14 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ufeffNat Hurst, Borlase's coach at the Adelaide Lightning and a former Opals teammate of Jackson, is amazed at the intertwining of their careers.<\/p>\n

"It's insane and \ufeffit's also extremely lucky that Izz gets to spend some time around Loz in the green and gold and not just play against her in the WNBL," Hurst told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

\"Teen<\/p>\n

"It's super special that at 42 Lauren is still doing her thing and running up and down the court and giving teams nightmares and [will be] possibly representing Australia again at an Olympics.<\/p>\n

"Players like Izz are in awe of Lauren. They actually call her the GOAT; they don't call her Lauren Jackson. It's really funny. Getting to spend time around her in the Opals program is just going to help her out so much."<\/p>\n

Borlase is in her second season of the WNBL and on the verge of being drafted into the WNBA. The shooting guard is a hot chance of being taken in the first round when the draft rolls around in April.<\/p>\n

The Adelaide local has starred for the Lightning as Opals Olympian Stephanie Talbot recovers from an ACL rupture, chalking up a team-high average of 15.7 points per match this season.<\/p>\n

"She's going to be a multiple Olympian, no doubt, and I think once she's drafted, whoever gets her in the WNBA is going to be very, very happy," Hurst said.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

"I think she's going to take that league by storm … She'll end up being a WNBA superstar \u2014 I have no doubt.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffShe's big, she's strong, she can get down hill, she's improved her three-point shooting a lot this season and she can take smaller guards to the post. Being so versatile with her size is super unique. She's super athletic. She can give you a bit of everything, so it makes the opposition scout on her pretty tough, I think."<\/p>\n

The Opals will qualify for the Paris Games if they finish in the top three of their pool, which includes Brazil, Germany and Serbia.<\/p>\n

\ufeffAustralia is ranked third in the world, Brazil eighth, Serbia 10th and Germany 25th.<\/p>\n

Opals squad\ufeff for Olympic qualifying tournament<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Rebecca Allen, Sara Blicavs, Isobel Borlase, Cayla George, Lauren Jackson, Tess Madgen (c), Ezi Magbegor, Jade Melbourne, Stephanie Reid, Alanna Smith, Marianna Tolo, Samantha Whitcomb\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Isobel Borlase entered the world in 2004,\ufeff Lauren Jackson was already a two-time Olympian, a triple WNBA All-Star and a WNBA MVP. In Brazil […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":366165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366163"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366168,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366163\/revisions\/366168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/366165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=366163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=366163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}