Women’s basketball: USA tame France to go 52 games unbeaten at Olympics
A’ja Wilson scored 22 points and Breanna Stewart added 17 to help the United States beat France 93-82 on Monday.
Tokyo 2020: Hassan takes 5000m gold, GB weightlifting silver and more – as it happened
Read more
The win was the 52nd in a row for the US dating back to the bronze medal game of the 1992 Olympics. The US went undefeated in group play – albeit not in the dominant fashion the team is used to – and advanced to the quarter-finals. The Americans (3-0) haven’t lost a game in group play since women’s basketball was added to the Olympics in 1976.
Even with the loss, France (1-2) advanced to the quarter-finals because of point differential with the other third-place teams. The team had to lose by 14 points or less to advance.
Both teams will find out later Monday night who they will play in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
France scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to take a 72-71 lead before the US answered with 12 of the next 14 points to go up 83-74 with 5:45 left. Wilson had six points during the run.
Tina Charles’ three-pointer made it 87-77, giving the US their first double-digit lead of the game. France could get no closer than seven the rest of the way.
Endene Miyem scored 15 to lead France.
The US led 11-2 before France scored 16 of the next 18 points to go up 18-13. The French team led 22-19 after one quarter – the third consecutive game that the Americans trailed after the first 10 minutes. The US got a scare in the first quarter when Taurasi left the game holding her right wrist. She was examined by the trainer and sat on the bench for the remainder of the quarter before returning with 4:20 left in the second period.
The lead exchanged hands for most of the second quarter as the US continued to pound the ball inside to its dominant bigs of Wilson, Brittney Griner, Sylvia Fowles and Charles.
The Americans led 50-44 at the half.