French women beat Australia in basketball thriller

France caused a big surprise in the Olympic women's basketball tournament with a 74-70 win over Australia.

It was Australia's first loss in the Olympics since 1996 to a team other than the United States.

An amazing half-court shot on the buzzer from Australia's Belinda Snell sent the game to overtime at 65-65.

However, Celine Dumerc's basket from the free-throw line ensured the European Champions secured their second win of the competition to lead Group B.

Australia coach Carrie Graf said: "We were beaten by the better team.

"Their possession play and rebounding hurt us, and our big players got in foul trouble so we didn't have them in overtime and that was a big problem for us."

The two teams met in an exhibition game just before the Olympic competition began and France came away with a six-point victory.

Australian duo Lauren Jackson and Suzy Batkovic did not play in that contest and although they combined to score 30 points, having them back failed to make a difference to the outcome.

Jackson, who contributed 13 points, was, along with Liz Cambage, forced to sit out the extra period of play after fouling out.

French guard Emilie Gomis scored all 22 of her points in the second half while Sandrine Gruda added 11 for the victors.