USA Women Start 2-0 at Olympic Games with Win Over Belgium

01 August 2024

USA 87, Belgium 74

View the USA-Belgium box score here.

The USA Women's National Team moved to 2-0 with an 87-74 win over Belgium. The U.S. extended their record Olympic win streak to 57 games since 1996.

The USA are now 2-0 and sit atop Group C tied with Germany. The team has medaled in every Olympic Games that they have participated in, dating back to 1976, and own a 73-3 overall record.

Starting Out: Head coach Cheryl Reeve started Chelsea Gray, Diana Taurasi, Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson. The five are the same group who started in the USA’s exhibition win against Germany and the first group play game against Japan. The starters contributed 56 points, highlighted by 49 combined points from Stewart and Wilson.

Give me The Rundown: The USA and Belgium were tied 23-23 going into the second quarter. After Emma Meesseman brought Belgium within a score of the USA (27-25) in the first minute of the second frame, the U.S. went on a 13-4 run, capped by a Jewell Loyd 3-pointer with 3:54 on the clock, to take their first double-digit lead of the game and force a Belgian timeout. Belgium stayed within striking distance though, trailing 46-38 heading into halftime.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the U.S. flipped a seven-point lead (60-53) into a 13-point lead (68-55) with an 8-2 run and securely held off the Belgians from there.

Board Game: The Americans grabbed 48 rebounds to Belgium’s 28 in the contest. The Americans have outrebounded their opponents by 51 boards combined through the first two games.

You Do You, Stew: Stewart quickly carried her momentum from Monday’s contest into the USA’s matchup with Belgium. She scored 11 of the first 15 points for the U.S. and finished with as many in the opening frame while shooting 100% from the field (4-4 FG, 1-1 3FG, 2-2 FT). At the end of two quarters she contributed 15 points (6-8 FG, 1-3 3FG).

To close, she had a game-high 26 points (8-14 FG, 9-10 FT), seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 35:25. Tonight marked an Olympic career-high scoring output for the U.S. forward.

Additionally, with nine made free throws, she became the first U.S. player to make eight-or-more in a game since Diana Taurasi sunk eight against Australia during the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Another One: Wilson took control of the paint, registering a first-half double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. She ended with 23 points (9-17 FG, 5-6 FT), 13 boards (5 ORB), and a team-best 3 steals in 33:42.

She finished with her second straight 20-point double-double in the win. Tonight is the third 20-point double-double of her Olympic career. She now has the most 20-point double-doubles in USA women's Olympic history, passing Lisa Leslie who only had two such games in four Olympic competitions.

The Sun is a Star: Alyssa Thomas came off the bench and contributed in multiple facets of the game on Thursday. She tallied eight points, six rebounds (4 ORB) and four assists in 16:12.