After losing its opening games of group play to Germany and the United States, Belgium’s women’s basketball team needed nothing short of a dominant performance to advance to the knockout stage of the tournament.
And that’s exactly what it got on Sunday with an 85-58 win that punched the Belgians’ tickets to the quarterfinals.
Leading the charge was two-time WNBA All-Star Emma Meesseman, who finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and five blocks. The standout effort marked the 2019 WNBA champion’s seventh consecutive game of 20 or more points, the longest such streak in women’s Olympic basketball history.
Helping Meesseman in the victory was Elise Ramette, who scored 16 points to go with four assists and two steals. Meanwhile, Antonia Delaere and Maxuella Lisowa-Mbaka chipped in with 12 points each.
Belgium dominated the contest from start to finish, leading for all but one minute, as it used a 19-7 opening frame to propel itself to its second-largest margin of victory ever in Olympic competition.
Japan struggled to deal with the Belgians’ physicality inside, losing the paint battle 48-16 and ending the contest a minus-13 on the glass.
The 27-point loss officially eliminated Japan from the tournament and marked just the second time the nation has failed to advance to the quarterfinals in its last five Olympic appearances.
Saki Hayashi was Japan’s top performer on the day with 13 points, four rebounds and a steal. Evelyn Mawuli was right behind with 12 points and three rebounds.
Nigeria 79, Canada 70
Ezinne Kalu scored 21 points to lead Nigeria to a 79-70 win over Canada, earning a spot in the Olympic quarterfinals.
With the win, Nigeria improved to 2-1 in group play, with its lone loss coming against France on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the loss ended a disappointing Olympic Games for the Canadians, who dropped all three of their games in Paris.
United States 87, Germany 68
The United States capped off a perfect 3-0 run in group play with a dominating win over Germany on Sunday.
Led by a 19-point effort by Jackie Young, the Americans claimed a battle between the two undefeated teams in Group C.
Both teams will advance to the quarterfinal and will be slotted on opposite sides of the bracket, so a potential rematch would have to come in the gold medal game.
Australia 79, France 72
In the final match of group play, Australia booked its ticket to the quarterfinal with a win over France.
Tess Madgen played over 30 minutes and scored 18 points to lead the Australians to victory. She shot 6-of-9 from the field and grabbed three rebounds to beat the host nation.
France entered the game 2-0 but was sunk by Australia’s big third quarter. The Aussies won the third frame 25-16, setting the stage for their big win.
Up Next
With the completion of group play, all quarterfinal matchups have been set. All four games are set for Aug. 7 and are as follows:
Serbia vs. Australia at 5 a.m. ET / 2 a.m. ET
Spain vs. Belgium at 8:30 a.m. ET / 5:30 a.m. ET
The winners of Serbia-Australia and Spain-Belgium will face off in the semifinals.
Germany vs. France at Noon ET / 9 a.m. PT
Nigera vs. U.S. at 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
The winners of Germany-France and Nigeria-U.S. will face off in the semifinals.