Olympics women’s basketball results, August 14: Team USA wins Group B

Results from the final preliminary round games in Olympics women’s basketball from Rio 2016, including Team USA securing the Group B win

The preliminary round of the 2016 Rio Olympics women’s basketball competition concluded on Sunday, August 14. Group B closed out the action in pool play with the three remaining games on the schedule. Consequently, four tickets were punched to the elimination rounds, including Team USA. The United States started off the day by securing the top spot in the group.

Brittney Griner and Tina Charles led the way from the Team USA frontcourt on Sunday against China. The Chinese women never ceased fighting, but the Americans simply had too much firepower on Day 9. As a result, Team USA cruised to another monster win to move to 5-0 in Rio and clinch the top seed out of Group B.

Serbia and Senegal squared off in the second matchup of the day, the former trying to get the win to advance. Contrarily, Senegal were looking for their first win of the tournament. The Serbian women jumped out to a big early lead, though, and Senegal never recovered. With the seven-point victory, Serbia moved into fourth place to move on to the knockout stages.

Wrapping up Day 9 and the preliminary round was a fun matchup between Spain and Canada. This game essentially boiled down to a battle for second place in Group B. Both teams had an answer for everything the other threw at them through three quarters. Spain, however, pulled away with a big fourth quarter run to secure the 13-point win and the No. 2 seed out of the group.

Next: 50 greatest Summer Olympians in history.

Advancing out of Group B in Olympics women’s basketball in order of seeding is Team USA, Spain, Canada, and Serbia. The quarterfinals will commence on Tuesday, August 16 after a day-long break for the athletes.