It was far closer than they would have liked, but the United States women’s basketball team’s winning streak lives on.
Team USA snuck past France 93-82 thanks to a late fourth quarter push in their final preliminary game of the Tokyo Olympics on Monday.
The win keeps them perfect in the games, and marks their 52nd straight victory in Olympic play — with their last loss dating back to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
Diana Taurasi returns after early wrist injury
The game got off on a rough note, despite the Americans opening up on a 9-2 run.
Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi went to the bench after appearing to injure her right wrist less than two minutes into the contest. She was clearly bothered in pain sitting on the bench and left briefly to have it looked at by the training staff before she eventually returned to the bench.
She missed the rest of the opening period, but returned to the game midway through the second and seemed fine the rest of the way.
While that’s good news for Team USA, France took advantage of her absence. The French then mounted a 16-4 run of their own to retake the lead, and held onto it until just before halftime — when Breanna Stewart hit a huge 3-pointer. Stewart entered the locker room with 14 points — all of which she scored in the second — to help Team USA take a six-point lead. They shot an impressive 57% from the field in the first 20 minutes, too.
Team USA held on to a slight four-point lead after the third, but France then opened the final quarter on a 5-0 burst powered by an Endy Miyem 3-pointer and a Valeriane Vukosavljevic layup.
That lead lasted just seconds, however, as the Americans responded with a 12-2 run of their own — half of which came from A’ja Wilson alone — to retake the lead and full control of the game.
From there, Team USA just held on and cruised to the 11-point win. France, needing to lose by less than 14 points to ensure it made it to the elimination stage, actually dribbled the ball out in the final seconds.
Wilson led Team USA with 22 points and seven rebounds while shooting 9-of-12 from the field. Stewart added 17 points, and Tina Charles put up 15 off the bench.
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