A’ja Wilson dominates as US women beat Japan 102-76 to open campaign for 8th straight Olympic gold

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and Brittney Griner dominated the paint and helped the U.S. win its Olympic opener as the Americans chase an unprecedented eighth straight gold medal.

Wilson had 24 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots to help the U.S. beat Japan 102-76 on Monday night.

“Points in the paint and controlling the boards are going to be huge for us moving forward,” Wilson said. “So if we can continue that, I feel like we’re in good shape.”

Stewart scored 22 points and the Americans now have a 56-game Olympic winning streak that dates to the 1992 Barcelona Games.

The U.S. also beat Japan in the final at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago for its seventh straight gold medal.

Now Monday’s victory tipped off the run to keep that streak going.

“We played this team for a gold medal, you know, not too long ago. And the way they play is unorthodox. They shoot a lot of threes. They’re fast. They make you play in a different style,” said Diana Taurasi, who is trying to win an unprecedented sixth gold medal. “And I think you saw those different moments where we struggled a little bit, and then we got used to it.”

Stewart, who is playing in her third Olympics, said there were some nerves before the game.

“It was great to get this first win under our belt. A team like Japan is a dangerous team if you really let them get going and us to just kind of build that trust on the fly I think is really important,” Stewart said. “And now we kind of know the tone and the standard of, you know, what we’re going to do game in and game out.”

Japan, which was severely undersized against the U.S., used its frenetic style of shooting 3s off drives to the basket to try and keep the game close.

It worked for about 17 minutes as Japan only trailed 37-32 with 3:01 left before the half. The U.S. then scored 13 of the final 19 points before break, including a three-point play by Wilson with 8.2 seconds left to open up a double-digit lead.

“When it came to our strengths, it was our depth and our height,” Wilson said. “And we tried to punish them in the paint, but also on the defensive end, staying in front of them because Japan is a team that’s really like to rip and run and that’s not like us. So it made us play out of our defensive schemes, which made us lock in even more so I’m just glad about the presence that we have.”

The Americans, who next play on Thursday against Belgium, put the game away in the third quarter. Chelsea Gray had nifty passes to Wilson for easy scores and the U.S. was off and running. Japan never threatened.

Maki Takada scored 24 points, and Mai Yamamoto added 17 for Japan, which hit 15 3-pointers. The U.S. made only four of its 20 3-point attempts.

This was Griner’s first game internationally since she spent time in a Russian prison in 2022 after she was sentenced to nine years in jail for drug possession and smuggling. Playing for her country again was a far-fetched idea at that point. Ten months later, she was free after a high-profile prisoner exchange.

Now, 19 months later, she’s suiting up for the U.S. in the Paris Games — her first trip to play overseas since returning from Russia.

Griner was huge in the 2021 gold medal game, scoring 30 points. It was the most points scored by an American player in a gold medal contest.

She had 11 points and nine rebounds Monday. With Wilson grabbing 13, the Americans had a dominating 56-27 advantage on the boards. They also held a huge 64-22 edge on points inside.

Sabrina Ionescu and Kelsey Plum each added 11 points for the Americans.

The U.S. had a scary moment in the second quarter when Kahleah Copper collided with Rui Machida on Japan and was down for a minute before getting up and walking off and holding her side. She returned in the fourth quarter and looked fine.

Coach Cheryl Reeve said she talked to Copper before putting her back in and the wing said she was fine.

The game capped a busy day of basketball. Nigeria pulled off a surprise victory over Australia — only the second in the history of the Olympics for an African country. Germany won its Olympic debut, beating Belgium and host France topped Canada in front of a spirited crowd.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games