The Australian Opals have secured their place at the FIBA Women's World Cup, now they can zero in on winning their first FIBA Asia Cup.
The Opals beat North Korea 81-48 in their Asia Cup quarter-final in India on Thursday night and will face South Korea on Friday for a place in the gold medal game.
![The Opals bench, led by Maddie Garrick (No.7), celebrate a three-pointer in their win over North Korea.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170728061811im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/k/b/f/f/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxk7zw.png/1501192784284.jpg)
The top four teams at the Asia Cup qualify for the women's world cup in Spain next year.
Rookie forward Alanna Smith overpowered her opponents to score a team-high 20 points and nine rebounds with Steph Blicavs nee Cumming (11 points) and Sara Blicavs (13 points) were prominent while the Opals dominated the rebound count 50-22.
The Opals made a poised start with Sara Blicavs scoring seven points and sister-in-law Steph Blicavs nee Cumming nailed some early three-pointers in the opening term to lead 28-12 at quarter time.
Smith came into the game early in the second term and made an immediate impact with seven quick points and more-accurate three-point shooting saw the lead extended to 49-23 at half-time.
North Korea were outstanding defensively in the third term and the Opals struggled to find a productive line-up as they lost the term 12-11 but still led 61-35.
Smith led the charge in the final term while Alice Kunek, Tessa Lavey and Maddie Garrick made good use of some extra court-time and helped take the lead beyond 30 points.
New Zealand missed out on world cup qualification when they lost to South Korea 64-49 in their quarter-final earlier on Thursday.
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