Liberty Star Leads USA to Olympic Win

It takes New York Liberty’s Stew … and a friend … to make a thing go right.

Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas) exchanged the scoring lead throughout the United States’ women’s basketball team’s debut at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Wilson eventually won that battle, but all benefitted as the Americans rolled to a 102-76 victory over Japan in their Group C opener.

Stewart, the reigning WNBA MVP had 22 points and eight rebounds paired with three blocks and assists while Wilson, pegged by many as the the 2024 successor, earned a 24-point, 13-rebound double-double alongside four rejections.

Those well-versed in modern WNBA affairs were likely hardly shocked by what transpired on the American side, as the representatives defending finalists New York and Las Vegas led the way to victory: as Stewart, Wilson, and Chelsa Gray each handled business in the starting five, for example, as Gray dished out 13 assists.

Ionescu was one of the top Americans in relief, particularly when it came to generating outside momentum: the WNBA’s current three-point queen sank all but one of the four successful star-spangled three-pointers en route to 11 points, a tally matched by Brittney Griner (Phoenix) and Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas). Ionescu also dealt out five assists and pulled in three rebounds despite not entering the game until the late stages of the second quarter.

But despite the headlining antics from the Liberty and Aces, everyone pulling for Team USA (1-0) and American women’s basketball had something to cheer about during Monday’s game: every American in the lineup scored at least once, as Gray and Ionescu’s distribution paved the way to 34 assists on 42 successful field goals. Though the Americans struggled to put the Japanese away early on, the one-sided finale allowed them to take the early lead in Group C above Germany.

Monday’s opener was a rematch of the most recent women’s basketball Olympic gold medal game, a 90-75 victory for the Americans in Tokyo three years ago. Maki Takada had an inspiring performance off the bench, scoring 24 points on 10-of-11 from the field.

While the undersized Japanese (0-1) fell victim to Stewart and Wilson’s dominance, they were able to maintain a manageable deficit thanks to outside shooting. It allowed them to narrow the gap to five by the three-minute mark of the second. A speedy run of five points, capped off by Ionescu’s first assist of the day (appropriately coming on a Stewart double), led to a Japan timeout. Mai Yamamto led the way with five triples of her own, as the United States hit only 1-of-13 (the outlier hit by Plum) before Ionescu’s de facto takeover.

Part one of the Americans’ three-game group journey marked their 56th in a row in Olympic competition. The middle stage of Team USA’s group slate lands on Thursday when the red, white, and blue faces Belgium (3 p.m. ET, USA/Peacock).

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