The U.S. advanced to its third straight gold-medal game win an 82-76 victory Friday, another tight matchup between the teams that met in the last two championship games.
Advertisement
“When the stakes are the highest is when we all play the best, and there won’t be any higher (stakes) than on Sunday”, Thompson said.
“It’s been awesome what we’ve done”, said Diana Taurasi, the leading USA scorer at 15.6 points per game. “It’s not about one person, one coach, it’s about how can we make this the best basketball team ever”.
RIO DE JANEIRO- The dominant US women’s basketball team won a sixth consecutive Olympic gold medal in impressive fashion, routing Spain 101-72 on Saturday.
“Super special”, Moore said. I’m not just saying talent-wise.
She becomes the first player to win four straight NCAA titles followed up by an Olympic gold medal.
“We’re at a really high level that maybe no one has ever seen before”, Auriemma said.
He said Australia had no choice but to get over their “shitty loss” to Serbia because they’ve still got a chance to win Australia’s first Olympic medal in men’s basketball.
“It’s historic for our country”.
In Rio’s game against Serbia, Klay Thompson went 1-of-6 with three points in a team-low nine minutes.
“This medal pays off so much work these past years”.
Serbia won the bronze medal earlier Saturday, beating France 70-63.
Prior to Saturday’s final, the U.S. women had racked up an average margin of victory of 38.4 points across its seven games in Rio.
Tamika Catchings said, “It is wonderful, it’s a blessing and a dream come true. I think we know how to play against them”.
Is the real “Dream Team” the women’s basketball squad? Alba Torrens from Spain gave the U.S. problems, scoring 10 points on 5 shots, but the Americans led 21-17 after the opening 10 minutes.
The Americans answered with a 10-0 run for a 24-17 edge on a 3-pointer from Bird, back from a right knee injury. Taurasi made two 3-pointers in the spurt and Moore and Breanna Stewart each added four points.
Sue Bird made it a 10-0 run with a three-pointer to start the 2nd quarter before a Marta Xargay layup and Torrens jumper would cut the US lead to three points, 24-21.
Advertisement
Torrens stayed active for Spain and she finished the half with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists, but the Spaniards ran into trouble when Astou Ndour and Laura Nicholls got into foul trouble with three each.
