The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
US advance to Olympic final over Serbia
SAITAMA, JAPAN » Soon after the U.S. women finished off Serbia to reach the Olympic gold medal game, members of the Japanese military honor guard started practicing for the medal ceremony.
The U.S. already knows that drill.
Brittney Griner had 15 points and 12 rebounds to help the Americans beat the Serbians 79-59 on Friday to advance to title game.
“This is exactly where we want to be,” said Breanna Stewart, who also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. “Everything is on the line. We’re going to do what we can to make sure we come home with a gold.”
The Americans are now one win away from a seventh consecutive gold
medal which would match the U.S. men’s team that won seven Olympic titles in a row from 1936-68.
It would also give Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi five gold medals — the most
ever by a basketball player in the Olympics. The Americans will face Japan on Sunday. The teams played in the preliminary round and the U.S. won 86-69. Japan beat France 87-71 in the semifinals, assuring the host nation its first medal ever in women’s basketball.
“I think everybody here wants to win gold for them, for us, for everybody that’s started this streak that got us here,” Griner said. “You know there’s a lot of different reasons why we want to win this gold medal. So I think you’re going to see some really good basketball in the gold medal game.”
The U.S. got a scare when Taurasi, grimacing and appearing to rub her left hip after collision, left the game midway through the third quarter. U.S. trainer Ed Ryan was talking with Taurasi when she went to the bench and she didn’t return. Taurasi missed the three exhibition games in Las Vegas with a hip pointer but appeared to moving without any issues during timeouts.