Team USA Pummeled Japan In Its Olympic Women’s Basketball Opener

The United States’ efforts to win an eighth straight Olympic gold medal in women’s basketball got off to one heck of a start on Monday. The Americans took on Japan in their Group C opener at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, and in a rematch of the gold medal game from 2021, the United States took care of business against a feisty Japan squad en route to a 102-76 win.

While the three-point line kept things close throughout the first half, Japan had no way to deal with the size that the United States brought to the tournament. Try as they might, when the Americans were able to break Japan’s relentless ball pressure, they were just way too big on the inside, and were able to get second and third chances by going up and over their opponents for offensive rebounds.

By the time the two teams entered the locker room for halftime, the Americans were able to take a 50-39 lead into the locker room thanks to monster first halves for A’ja Wilson (17 points, seven rebounds) and Breanna Stewart (14 points, six rebounds). They had a 30-14 advantage on the glass, with 10 offensive boards. And if not for the fact that Japan went 9-for-22 from three and they could not get anything to go from deep — the United States shot 1-for-12 from behind the three-point line despite plenty of good looks — things could have been considerably more one-sided.

The U.S. came out of the locker room at halftime and, despite their continued struggles to hit threes, continued to impose itself, with Chelsea Gray pulling the strings and carving up Japan’s defense.

They managed to extend their lead by hammering Japan in the paint and playing an egalitarian style of basketball, with the ball consistently moving and buckets coming as a result. While their opponents kept trying to let it fly from three, the United States took advantage of its edge in both size and athleticism over and over again.

The U.S. was able to get its lead up to as many as 32 points before Japan was able to tighten things up a little at the very end — while the Americans will almost certainly not need to rely on point differential during group play, it could be important in determining second and third for everyone else.

Every player who stepped on the floor for the United States scored, with Wilson’s 24 points leading the way along with 13 rebounds, four assists, and four blocks. Stewart had 22 points and eight boards, while Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu, and Kelsey Plum each scored 11 off the bench. As a team, the U.S. had 34 assists on 42 made field goals — Gray had 13 of them — while they managed to out-rebound Japan, 56-27, with 19 of those coming on the offensive glass. And the scariest part may just be that they have plenty of room to improve, as Team USA turned the ball over 12 times and only shot 4-for-20 from deep, with three of those makes coming from Ionescu in the fourth quarter.

Next up for the United States is a matchup with Belgium on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET. The Belgians played Germany in their group play opener earlier in the day on Monday and fell, 83-69.