Unsurprisingly, the step was too high. The Nigerians, the first representatives of the African continent to reach the quarter-finals of an Olympic basketball tournament, saw their journey end on Wednesday evening against the Americans (88-74), who qualified for their eleventh semi-final in a row. You have to go back to 1980 and the boycott of the Moscow Games to see Team USA absent from the last four.
Nigeria, who were already trailing by nearly 20 points at half-time, conceded an 8-0 run after the break. The gap between the two teams even reached 30 points in the third quarter (76-46) before narrowing towards the end of the match, with the D’Tigress winning the last period by a wide margin without any impact on the outcome of the game.
On the American side, A’ja Wilson posted a double-double (20 points, 11 rebounds) and finished as the game’s top scorer. The Team USA players, seven-time reigning Olympic champions, are still the favorites to win the title in Paris. In the semi-finals, they will face the Australians, who avenged their male counterparts by beating Serbia (85-67). It will be Friday at 9:30 p.m., just after the other semi-final between France and Belgium.
2024-08-07 21:16:51
#Team #USA #edges #Nigeria #advances #Paris #Olympic #semifinals
