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Olympic basketball: U.S. women open pursuit of gold with rout of Japan

July 29, 2024

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — A’ja Wilson scored 24 points and Breanna Stewart added 22 to help the U.S. women’s basketball team beat Japan 102-76 on Monday night in the Olympic opener for both teams.

The Americans now have a 56-game Olympic winning streak that dates to the 1992 Barcelona Games.

The last of those victories before Monday also came against Japan when the two teams played for the gold medal in the Tokyo Games three years ago. The U.S. came away with a 90-75 win for its seventh straight gold medal.

Now Monday’s victory tipped off the run to keep that streak going.

Japan, which was severely undersized against the U.S., used its frenetic style of shooting 3s off drives to the basket to try and keep the game close.

It worked for about 17 minutes as Japan only trailed 37-32 with 3:01 left before the half. The U.S. then scored 13 of the final 19 points before break, including a three-point play by Wilson with 8.2 seconds left to open up a double-digit lead.

The Americans, who next play on Thursday against Belgium, put the game away in the third quarter. Chelsea Gray had nifty passes to Wilson for easy scores and the U.S. was off and running. Japan never threatened.

Maki Takada scored 24 points, and Mai Yamamoto added 17 for Japan, which hit 15 3-pointers. The U.S. made only four of its 20 3-point attempts.

This was Brittney Griner’s first game internationally since she spent time in a Russian prison in 2022 after she was sentenced to nine years in jail for drug possession and smuggling. Playing for her country again was a far-fetched idea at that point. Ten months later, she was free after a high-profile prisoner exchange.

Now, 19 months later, she’s suiting up for the U.S. in the Paris Games — her first trip to play overseas since returning from Russia.

Griner was huge in the 2021 gold medal game, scoring 30 points. It was the most points scored by an American player in a gold medal contest.

She had 11 points and nine rebounds Monday. With Wilson grabbing 13, the Americans had a dominating 56-27 advantage on the boards.

Sabrina Ionescu and Kelsey Plum each added 11 points for the Americans.

The U.S. had a scary moment in the second quarter when Kahleah Copper collided with Rui Machida on Japan and was down for a minute before getting up and walking off and holding her side. She returned in the fourth quarter and looked fine.

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Nigeria 75, Australia 62

Ezinne Kalu made her first four 3-pointers and scored 17 of her 19 points in the first half Monday as Nigeria earned its first win in women’s basketball at the Olympics since 2004, upsetting Australia.

Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio Games and went winless in Tokyo. Australia is led by coach Sandy Brondello from the WNBA’s New York Liberty and came in ranked third in the world, compared to 12th for Nigeria.

In other women’s games Monday, Germany won its Olympic debut, beating Belgium and host France topped Canada in front of a spirited crowd.

Orange County Register

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Olympic basketball: U.S. women open pursuit of gold with rout of Japan

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Nigeria 75, Australia 62

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