And when Diana Taurasi drilled a three in the second quarter to push the lead to 11, the moment that things started transitioning from interesting to academic.
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Claressa Shields is one win away from her second Olympic boxing gold medal, and the American middleweight is making it look easy. In yet another rout, the United States dismantled Spain 101-72 on Saturday.
“It’s fantastic, isn’t it?”
“Wait!” said McCoughtry, one of the 2016 team’s blithest spirits, brightened and asked, “Who does that make me?”
Lewis piled up the birdies, finishing with four in a row, the last one the most unlikely.
United States’ Sue Bird watches her team warm up before a semifinal round basketball game against France at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. There is such a level of expectation, there’s such a level of respect for the people at the very top. “We had never made it past the quarter-finals and now we are in the final”.
Fifteen-year-old Ren Qian captured another diving gold medal for China on Thursday, producing five almost flawless efforts off the women’s 10-meter platform to beat her 17-year-old teammate, Si Yajie. The U.S. beat Canada 81-51 in group play, so the French have quite a task ahead of them tonight.
But if this isn’t the best ever, it’s close.
“I was just trying to get a third shot after that lie in the bunker”, Lewis said. I’m not saying margin of victory. The feats of the USA women got us thinking about the most dominant teams in sports history.
Still, closure to their journey Saturday had Auriemma and Taurasi fighting back tears.
“We learned that from them”. Then again, the Americans have had Sue Bird running the show for over a decade. “You have three Hall of Fame players, Sue, Dee, Tamika Catchings, who don’t think they are entitled to anything”.
Ashton Eaton retained his title by tying the Olympic record in the decathlon, Ryan Crouser led an American one-two in the shot put with a new games record, and Kerron Clement delivered another gold for the United States in the 400 hurdles. It helped having Bird back in the lineup. She missed the semifinal win over France as she was recovering from a sprained right knee capsule.
Catchings was admittedly “hurt” by the omission of her good friend Parker, and she doesn’t love sitting the bench.
The Americans are knocked out of title contention, and two-time defending Olympic champion Brazil was ousted in a stunning five-setter by China in the quarterfinals.
Auriemma turned to something very familiar to him to spark the Americans.
And now, he has a chance to win a second with five of his former players at UConn. Breanna Stewart got the spurt started with two free throws. She sat out the second half of the game.
Catchings was first off the US bench at that moment, up cheering for Taurasi and imploring her teammates to maintain the intensity.
In the men’s 49er, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke capped a dominant four years of sailing by winning the medal race to confirm the gold they had clinched two days ago. He took the trio out together for one final time with 5:44 left. Spain is already guaranteed its first Olympic medal in women’s basketball. The Americans also beat Spain in the 2014 world championship by 13. They are hosting the 2018 worlds.
In fact, the US shot 39 percent in the slow start of the first quarter.
“I don’t want to know what we’re doing next”, Auriemma said. “As they showed yesterday it doesn’t matter who’s out there we have a really good team”.
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That’s what the 37-year-old University of Tennessee legend does for this team – even though she’s still the best player for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever – and with as much passion as she seems to do everything.
