Diana Taurasi broke her own records for three-point field goals made and attempted while leading the United States women’s basketball team to a 110-84 victory over Serbia Wednesday afternoon.
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Taurasi scored 16 in the first quarter and hit five 3s in the first half, and the Americans (3-0) needed her scoring. Serbia made a few pushes in the third quarter thanks to some hot three-point shooting of its own, but the Americans again proved far too good for the competition. Breanna Stewart contributed 17 points, Tina Charles added 15, Angel McCoughtry had 13 and Maya Moore added 10 as every USA player scored in the contest. The Serbians struggled inside against the bigger Americans, so they shot over the United States and hit 12 of 20 outside the arc. The Americans have never done that in the Olympics and are on pace to break the 102.4 points a game the 1996 team averaged en route to the gold medal that started this run of five straight that the U.S.is now on.
The U.S. had only played Serbia once in major worldwide competition, beating the Balkan nation by 20 points at the 2014 world championship. The Serbians lost their first two games by a combined eight points, including blowing an 18-point lead against Canada.
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The U.S., which sits atop their Group A ahead of 2-1 Spain, will next play Canada on Friday and then China on Sunday. An Olympic neophyte entering Rio, Stewart has nine or more points in each of her first three games.
