While Team USA basketball remains a brand that most more readily associate with men, the women half of gold-grabbing hoopsters is quietly compiling one of the most impressive resumes in the history of international team sports. To say that they’re more dominant than the men’s team would probably be an understatement.
For starters, the women’s team hasn’t lost a game since 1992, a moment in time that pre-dates the birth of some of you reading this. More recently and notably, they set a scoring record in their category with 121 points and busted their own record for largest margin of victory with their 121-56 thwacking of Senegal over the weekend in Rio. Their most lopsided victory, previously, was a 60-point beatdown of Zaire in 1996.
Diana Taurasi, unsurprisingly, led the way for the Americans in their historically dominant showing, notching 15 points on exclusively three-point shots. Coach Geno Auriemma is guiding his monopolistic hold on women’s basketball talent at UConn into more excellence abroad; Taurasi is one of five Huskie alums on the 12-person roster. Maya Moore, Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, and Tina Charles make up the remaining four.
As big of a gap there is between America and the rest of the world’s men at basketball, it’s clear that this group of women has an even stronger hold on the hooping globe.
