Liberty Stars Secure Another USA Olympic Win

Despite some Belgian waffling, the United States’ women’s national basketball team armed with the services of New York Liberty royalty restored Olympic sanity at the women’s basketball portions of the Paris Games.

Team USA is moving onto the knockout round after a hard-fought win in the middle stage of Group C play in Lille, staving off a well-played effort from Belgium en route to an 87-74 victory.

Reigning WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart and her presumed successor A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas) once again led the way: Stewart from New York earned 26 points while Sin City’s Wilson had another double-double at 23 points and 13 rebounds. Fellow Brooklynite Sabrina Ionescu had six points, four assists, and three rebounds as part of a dominant showing from the second unit.

The Americans’ 57th consecutive Olympic victory did not come easy, as they faced a Belgian group that brought them to the brink during the qualifying tournament in February. Reeling from a loss to Germany in its opener, Belgium (0-2) made it clear from the get-go that they would not be phased by American dominance.

Despite 11 points from Stewart in the opening frame, the Belgians brought a tie score into the second period, primarily sustained by a headlining outing from 2019 WNBA Finals MVP Emma Meesseman and a partisan crowd almost unanimous in its support for the Cats.

Team USA seemed to reboot the status quo with a strong second, one that boosted the lead to eight thanks to a strong effort from its reserves. Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut) was particularly impressive, earning eight points, six rebounds, and four assists in relief.

A Stewart jumper and her assist on Wilson’s double brought the lead to double-figures at the onset of the third but Belgium continued to persist, using a 6-0 run to shrink its gap to four. Napheesa Collier (Minnesota) began to push the momentum back in the American direction with a role on half of the Americans’ 14 points in the third before closing the matter in the fourth.

Stewart’s steal after consecutive Belgian three-pointers perhaps helped seal the deal: she turned an interception of an Antonia Delaere pass into a fastbreaking double to Wilson before she and Ionescu created metropolitan magic on the other end: with 4:21 remaning, Ionescu passed on a three and found a streaking Stewart for a dozen-point advantage, leading Belgium to call its final timeout.

From there, Team USA (2-0) nursed its lead in point differential among Paris’ dozen, the primary tiebreaker beyond head-to-head. Ionescu created an exclamation point with a silencer: initially trying to run the clock out, Ionescu launched a three from the cusp of the Olympic logo at midcourt and successfully created the final margin, putting her finger to her lips as the pro-Belgian crowd voiced its disapproval.

Ionescu’s three capped off a 31-11 advantage in bench points for the Americans, who saw five of their six female reserves get on the scoresheet. Thomas and Jewell Loyd (Seattle) led the way in that regard with eight each. In terms of the point differential lead partly secured by Ionescu’s finale, Team USA stands at plus-39, three points behind host nation France for the lead in the department.

Belgium will likely need a convincing victory over defending silver medal winner Japan on Sunday (5 a.m. ET, Peacock) if they’re looking to return to the knockout round. While Meesseman carried the load, lone WNBA representative Julie Vanloo (Washington) struggled to the tune of 1-of-11 from three-point range despite also mustering five assists and rebounds each.

A seafoam civil war will decide the winner of Group C on Sunday, when Ionescu and Stewart potentially face off against a German group partially headlined by Liberty teammates Leonie Fiebich and Nyara Sabally (11:15 a.m. ET, USA).

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