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TOKYO. — A rampant United States swept past Japan to their seventh straight women’s basketball crown yesterday, with Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi collecting their fifth Olympic gold medals to cap remarkable careers. Brittney Griner scored a game-high 30 points with five rebounds and two assists as the hosts Japan were overpowered 90-75 by a team that stretched their Olympic win streak to 55 games dating back to their last defeat in the 1992 semis.
They went to halftime with a 50-39 lead and there was no stopping them, with a valiant Japan settling for second place and a best-ever Olympic finish.
Beating the Americans in Saitama was always going to be a huge ask, with the USA one of the most dominant teams in Olympic sporting history.
They had won eight out of the past nine Olympic titles heading into the final.
Their only blemishes in the history of the tournament were a silver behind the Soviet Union at the inaugural event in 1976 and bronze in 1992.
“It really is hard to wrap your head around it, to grasp what it is,” said Bird on her fifth gold, as US soccer star fiancée Megan Rapinoe watched on in Saitama Super Arena. “Twenty years of staying true to the game, making sure you’re at the top of your game, so much sacrifice.”
Bird (40) and Taurasi (39) both scored early buckets as the US raced to a 13-point lead against a nervous Japan, closing out the first quarter with a 23-14 advantage and Griner already into double digits.
Japan stabilised and began making some shots but they again struggled with Griner’s 6ft 7ins (2.01 metres) height in the paint as the US picked her out repeatedly and she went 9-of-10 from the floor.
They took a 50-39 lead into the second half and built it into a 75-56 edge heading into the final stretch, with A’ja Wilson contributing 19 points and five assists for the game. Japan were led by Maki Takada with 17 points, but the US successfully restricted the dangerous Rui Machida to just six assists. — AFP.
Online Reporter
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