The US women’s national team finished the group stage of the Olympic basketball tournament without a loss. In their last match of Group B, the Americans prevailed with 93:82 (19:22, 31:22, 21:23, 22:15) over the European runner-up France. For the United States, this was the 52nd consecutive victory at the Olympics, as the team’s series began with the match for the bronze medal in Barcelona in 1992.
The match was very equal, as the difference of 11 points at the very end was the biggest between the two teams. The good news for the French, who finished third in the group with 1 win and 2 losses, is that they qualify for the quarterfinals as one of the best performing teams on 3rd place.
Aja Wilson was above all in the American team with 22 points (7 rebs and 3 asts). Breanna Stewart added 17 points (7 rebs and 7 asts) and Tina Charles finished with 15 (2 rebs and 5 asts). For France, Endene Miyem scored 15 points (4 red and 1 ast) and Sandrine Gruda added 12 (6 rebs).
In the other group match, Japan scored a second victory. The home team won 102:83 (30:22, 21:16, 33:19, 18:26) over Nigeria. The Japanese led convincingly from the beginning of the match and won it without much difficulty. This was helped by their great shooting from the three points, which brought them 19 hits from 39 attempts.
Saki Hayashi scored 7 three-pointers and finished with a total of 23 points. Yuki Miyazawa scored 19 more points and Maki Takada finished with 15. For Nigeria, Victoria Macaulay was the most useful with 18 points in 19 minutes of play. The Africans dropped out of the tournament with three losses.
