Opals fall to Belgium, face knockout Qualifier

Australia have missed out on a direct berth in the quarter-finals at the women's basketball World Cup after sliding to a loss to Belgium in their last group game.

The European champions held out the Opals in a tough grind of a match before prevailing 80-68 in Berlin on Monday.

Australia will now need to win a qualifying final on Wednesday against the loser out of China and Italy - to be played later on Monday - to progress to the knock-out stages.

The Seattle Storm's Ezi Magbegor led the way for Australia with 15 points, while Jade Melbourne had 10 points and six assists.

Cheered on by vocal travelling fans, the Opals made a spirited start before Belgium settled to lead 23-17 at quarter-time.

The Cats scrapped hard in the second term as Magbegor, Melbourne and Zitina Aokuso led Australia with some big buckets, with Belgium hanging on to lead by seven at halftime.

Australia again cut Belgium's lead to six points with less than three minutes left in the third quarter, but the Cats repeatedly found a way to respond to the Opals' attacks.

An 11-2 run to start the last quarter built Belgium's advantage, before they ran out 12-point winners.

Emma Meesseman starred for Belgium, almost scoring a triple-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Belgium finished on top of Group C with three wins from as many games, while Australia ended in second spot with a 2-1 win-loss record.

The four group winners progress directly to Thursday's quarter-finals, while the teams that finish second and third face play-offs to determine which join the group winners already through to the final eight.