SYDNEY — Brendan Joyce has been hired as the full-time head coach of the Australian Opals women's basketball team in a deal that runs through to the end of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Joyce, who worked as an assistant for the national men's team — the Boomers — from 2001-09, including two Olympic Games, replaces Carrie Graf in the Opals job. The Opals have won three silver and two bronze medals at the last five Olympics — including a run of three consecutive final defeats to the US in 2000, ‘04 and ‘08 — and won the 2006 World Championships in Brazil. The Opals have a host of high-profile players in leagues around the world, including Penny Taylor, a three-time All Star. — AP