Sports

U. S. women's hoops crushes Nigeria, reaches Olympic partially

.Brian Windhorst, ESPN Senior WriterAug 7, 2024, 05:28 PM ETCloseESPN.com NBA author due to the fact that 2010.Covered Cleveland Cavs for seven years.Writer of pair of booksPARIS-- The blend of A'ja Wilson as well as Breanna Stewart has shown to be a devasting combo for the Crew U.S.A. women, relevant where there is actually a situation building that they could discuss the Olympics A lot of Belongings Player Award.But there's a brand new duo surfacing, though certainly not an unusual one, that is actually verified to become a big increase as the Americans pursue yet another gold medal.Las Las vega Aces teammates Kelsey Plum and also Jackie Youthful have actually boosted to become difference-makers in France and played vital jobs in Staff USA's 88-74 triumph over Nigeria in the quarterfinals.It indicated the staff's 59th consecutive Olympic success and puts together a semifinal competition versus Australia, champions over Serbia Wednesday, on Friday at 3 p.m. ET.Jackie Young finished with double-digit factors for the 2nd straight video game, shooting 60% from the industry in the United States' get Nigeria. CAROLINE BREHMAN/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockCoach Cheryl Reeve relocated Young into the beginning sequence in place of professional Diana Taurasi against Nigeria, a group known for participating in higher stress full-court defense that challenges setting against guards.It was a benefit after Young racked up 19 aspects along with four steals off the bench in the final pool play video game versus Germany. She responded along with an additional excellent functionality, enjoying with electricity at both points alongside yet another Aces ally, Chelsea Gray, in the backcourt.Young racked up 15 points and helped bring the USA offense early in the video game as the Americans left to a little bit of a slow begin by their standards.Nigeria lagged through simply 4 points midway with the second fourth. That's when Reeve headed to Plum, who was the 12th and final player to enter the game for the Americans. Plum immediately modified the game along with her passing away and speed on the annoying point, serving up 3 simple aids and toenailing a 3-pointer. Plum completed with merely 6 aspects but her six-minute switch to complete the initial half resulted in a plus-11 on the scoreboard to push the trigger 19 at fifty percent. The U.S. at that point started the 2nd half on a 15-0 run and the tension was done for the evening.Editor's Picks1 RelatedWilson as well as Stewart, who came into the game averaging a matching 20.3 points per game, played their brand of skilled bully round. Wilson put in 20 points on 9-of-11 capturing with 11 rebounds as well as pair of blocks. Stewart possessed 13 factors on 5-of-7 firing with five rebounds and also three assists.Brittney Griner went over the seat to rating 11 ideas on 4-of-5 capturing. Those 3 interior markers combining for 16-of-21 is actually tough to beat.The U.S. got into the video game balancing 29 aids and again applied a ball-sharing center through setting up 31 more.Promise Amukamara led Nigeria, which cut the top down to as low as 13 in the 4th one-fourth, with 19 scores. The video game ended along with a little advantage when the united state's Kahleah Copper got a technological foul for tossing the reception at Nigeria's Ezinne Kalu after she racked up in the last seconds.

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