After yesterday’s close game on the men’s side between USA and Serbia, the American women let fans relax a little more today by beating Australia in a start to finish victory. They’ll now head to the gold medal game riding on a 85-64 win over the Opals, who just could not keep up with the USA’s depth and dominance.
Cheryl Reeve stuck with her revamped starting lineup of A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Breanna Stewart, and Napheesa Collier, with Jackie Young replacing Diana Taurasi. What resulted was an avalanche of strength from the starters that Australia could not keep up with.
Box Score at a Glance
One of the most glaring differences between the USA’s box score versus Australia’s was the fact that three of USA’s starters scored in double digits, while none of the Opal’s did. Team USA was led in points by Stewart with 16 points, Young with 14, and Wilson with 10 points. The highest scorers on the Australia starting lineup were Jade Melbourne and Alana Smith with 7 points each.
Wilson not only cleaned up the boards for USA, but also protected the rim on the defensive end in dominant fashion. Her 8 rebounds and 4 blocks made it so that Australia was forced to try and find their perimeter shots, but didn’t deliver, shooting 24.1% from distance.
Team USA’s bench got involved too, showing improvement in their minutes compared to earlier games. It made it so that Reeve could depend on her bench players for more minutes down the stretch, especially since the USA maintained a 20+ point lead for most of the second half. Kahleah Copper led the bench in scoring with 11 points on 4-for-9 shooting from the field.
Another huge improvement from Team USA against Australia was their three-point shooting. After shooting just 24% from distance against Nigeria, they shot 41.2% from three against Australia. With sharp-shooters like Sami Whitcomb on Australia’s team, it was obviously an emphasis to beat them in that respect today in order to get the edge over them.
Young and Collier make a great lineup somehow better
It’s bad enough for opponents to see Wilson and Stewart coming, but the rest of Team USA’s starting lineup makes them virtually unstoppable. The shift to Young over Diana Taurasi was not exactly make or break for the lineup, but certainly helped them gain a quick lead over opponents right out of the gate.
It starts with the chemistry already established between Young, Gray, and Wilson from playing and winning together in Las Vegas. Young is so good at being able to seamlessly mold her play to whoever is surrounding her on the court, filling in gaps and being able to fill a stat sheet regardless of the role she plays. It’s probably why Reeve opted to choose her as a replacement for Taurasi as a starter, and now she has scored in double-digits for three straight games.
Obviously Stewart and Wilson also play incredibly together, and are having fun doing it. For two players who are constantly pitted against each other in the WNBA, it’s breathtaking the way they play together as teammates. They almost dance around each other, cleaning up missed shots for one another, assisting to provide open shots, and making it SO difficult for opponents to stop them.
Napheesa Collier again is someone who can come in and fill whatever gaps are needed in any lineup. Obviously she is playing a different role on Team USA than she does on the Minnesota Lynx, but is adjusting so well. Against Australia, her 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block just prove that Collier is in there impacting the game on every level.
On the brink of an 8th straight Gold
Team USA will now play for a gold medal on Sunday, awaiting the results of the second semi-final match to determine their opponent. It’s between France, the current hosts and bronze medalists from Tokyo, or Belgium, a team with some great current and former WNBA talent.
The USA has a great chance to win either way, but may be hoping to meet Belgium over France. France’s home court advantage during these games has been huge on both the men’s and the women’s sides, motivating their teams to success. The team as a whole looks stronger than they did in Paris, and obviously have Team USA’s on their hit list… like every nation does.
Belgium would also put up a good fight, but in that case the crowd would probably side more with Team USA. Either way, USA is well on their way to securing that 10th gold medal, and 8th consecutive in women’s basketball.
