The USA women’s basketball team have kicked off their Olympic campaign with a victory in their first game against Nigeria women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, beating them 81-72 in their early hours of Tuesday.
The USA women’s basketball team fought hard to claim the victory, as the Nigerian team gave them a good fight to deny them the
that dominance that the Americans are accustomed to at the Olympic Games.
Both teams had early met in their warm-up games going to the Olympics in Tokyo, with the USA women’s team overcoming D’Tigress by a 31 points difference. The win on Tuesday, makes it 50 games winning streak for the US team in the Olympic games.
It was the first time that a team had come within single digits of the U.S. since a four-point win over Russia in the semifinals of the 2004 Athens Games.
Sue Bird has been a part of the past five Olympics and wasn’t too concerned by the final margin.
“You’re talking about some of the greatest Olympic teams of all time,” she said of the previous ones that won by double digits. “I don’t know how many teams would beat that Rio team, the London team or the Beijing team. This team is still figuring it out. We’ll get there.”
Diana Taurasi, who was playing in her first game in nearly a month after suffering a hip injury, has competed in the past 33 of those victories to set a record for most games in the Olympics. She showed no effects from the injury that sidelined her for the team’s three exhibition games in Las Vegas two weeks ago.
With a roster full of former U.S. college players, Nigeria jumped out to an 8-1 lead as the U.S. missed its first four shots and committed four turnovers. The Nigerians were up 20-17 after one quarter and extended the lead to 25-20 before the U.S. took over.
The Americans scored 23 straight points, the first four by Wilson — one of six newcomers on the U.S. roster.
“It felt good to get in the flow of things out there,” Wilson said. “I was definitely nervous, but then had that moment when I was like, ‘I’m supposed to be here.'”
Breanna Stewart scored seven points during the game-changing burst. The U.S. led 44-32 at the half as Nigeria regrouped to score seven of the final eight points of the second quarter.
The U.S. extended the lead to 70-50 at the end of the third quarter on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Jewell Loyd. The Americans led 75-55 before Nigeria scored 12 straight points to cut it to eight with 3:19 left.
Ezinne Kalu scored 16 to lead Nigeria.
“It’s a mix of disappointment but also encouragement for us because we wanted some rhythm, and I think we got it toward the end,” said Nigeria’s Adaora Elonu.
“So if we can carry it on for the next game it’ll be good. But I think it’s good we got it under 10 because here in this tournament all points matter.”
The U.S. also holds the second-longest Olympic win streak with 15 consecutive victories. … Turnovers plagued the Americans, who committed 12 in the first half and 25 for the game. … Joining Wilson as first-time Olympians were Loyd, Skylar Diggins, Ariel Atkins, Chelsea Gray and Napheesa Collier.
STRANGE STAT
The Nigerians had 18 more field goal attempts than the U.S. but made six fewer shots.
LOOKING FOR A WIN
Nigeria was attempting to become the first African nation to win an Olympic contest in women’s basketball since 2004 when the team went 1-5 in Greece. No team from the continent has won a game since. There are hopes for that to potentially change: Nigeria went 3-4 at the FIBA World Cup in 2018, falling to the U.S. in the quarterfinals.
UP NEXT
U.S.: Faces Japan on Friday.
Nigeria: Faces France on Friday.