Australian women stun U.S. in exhibition
Americans miss eight straight shots from field down the stretch
Breanna Stewart and her U.S. Olympic teammates aren’t panicking, even though they’ve lost consecutive games for the first time in a decade.
Two days after losing to a team of WNBA All-stars, the Americans fell to Australia 7067 on Friday in a pre-olympic exhibition game.
“There’s a standard and the standard is winning and we haven’t gotten to that point yet,” said Stewart, who scored 17 points for the U.S. “It’s frustrating, it’s part of the game and part of the process. When we get to Tokyo and get to the Olympics that’s when it’s really, really crunch time. We’re continuing to elevate and get better every day. We’ll get to where we want to be.”
The U.S. struggled from the outside, missing 16 of its 18 3-point attempts. The Americans, who got together as a team for the first time earlier this week, also had 18 turnovers.
“In the third quarter we turned the ball over and gave Australia too many easy baskets,” U.S. coach Dawn Staley said. “We were able to defend when we’re in front of them. When we turned the ball over, we weren’t able to get back.”
It was the first time the U.S. has lost back-to-back games since 2011 in Spain. The Americans had gone 29-2 since then in exhibition games.
Ezi Magbegor, Stewart’s Seattle Storm teammate, scored 17 points to lead Australia.
Stewart’s three-point play tied the game at 66 with 2:59 left before Magbegor scored and Marianna Tolo made a reverse layup with 2 minutes remaining to give Australia a 70-66 advantage.
The U.S. missed seven straight shots before Brittney Griner was fouled with 17 seconds left. She made one of two free throws.
After a timeout, the U.S. committed four consecutive fouls to try and get Australia to the foul line. After the fourth foul, Australia turned the ball over with 10.9 seconds left, but Stewart’s 3-pointer before the buzzer was off the mark.
The Opals’ victory came hours after star center Liz Cambage withdrew from the team, citing mental and physical health concerns. She had been worried about the experience at the Tokyo Games, with players isolated in a bubble-like environment. Cambage posted a statement on social media late Thursday night saying the prospect of having no friends, no family, no fans and no support system outside the women’s basketball squad was “honestly terrifying.”
More women’s basketball: Nneka Ogwumike and Elizabeth Williams have filed appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in a last-ditch effort to play basketball for Nigeria in the upcoming Olympics, said two people familiar with the situation. The pair were notified earlier this week by FIBA that their petition to play for the African nation had been denied because they played for the U.S. national program for too long.
Men’s basketball: Kevin Love has withdrawn from the Olympics because of a calf injury. Love’s withdrawal came after the Americans announced Thursday that Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal would miss the Olympics because he was in health and safety protocols. Veteran center Javale Mcgee and Spurs guard Keldon Johnson were added to the 12-man Olympics roster as replacements.
Tennis: Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur has tested positive for COVID-19 and has withdrawn from the Olympics.
Notes: Local officials are searching for a Ugandan athlete who went missing in western Japan on Friday in a case raising questions over Japanese organizers’ oversight of Olympic participants. The missing 20-year-old Julius Ssekitoleko was training as part of the nine-member Ugandan team in Izumisano, Osaka prefecture, city officials said . ... IOC President Thomas Bach got a mixed reception in his visit on Friday to Hiroshima to mark the first day of the so-called Olympic Truce. The Olympics are set to open next week with Tokyo under a state of emergency and with a substantial part of the population opposed to the Games being held during the COVID-19 pandemic.