VILLENEUVE-D'ASCQ, France — Coach Cheryl Reeve is not any stranger to dynasties. From 2011 to 2017, her Minnesota Lynx team won 4 WNBA championships. And on the 2016 Rio Olympics, where Reeve was an assistant, 4 of her players played key roles for the gold medal team.
So it's probably a reasonably comforting – and in some ways familiar – feeling for Reeve to take a look at her bench now in France and see 4 players starting for the Las Vegas Aces, the two-time defending WNBA champions.
On Sunday night, it was a core of probably the most dominant WNBA team in recent history – just imagine – that led the US team to an 87-68 victory over Germany in the ultimate group game.
The game was fairly even for the primary quarter-hour (Germany even led after the primary quarter), but midway through the second quarter – only a minute after Team USA took the lead for the primary time on an Alyssa Thomas layup – Reeve sent A'ja Wilson back to the court, where she joined Aces defenders Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young. With the core of the Aces on the court, Team USA finished the primary half on a 17-7 run.
Also midway through the third quarter, a substitution of Plum-Young (when Wilson was already on the court) provided immediate offensive energy for Team USA, and the team – which had allowed Germany to chop its result in 10 – ended the third quarter on a 20-7 run.
It was a very successful night for Young, who scored probably the most points on her team, making 7 of 13 shots, including 5 of 8 three-pointers. In the primary two games, Young had played a complete of just over 20 minutes and attempted only one shot – a three-pointer against Japan within the opening game. Her three-point success is particularly necessary for Team USA considering the group has struggled with long-range shooting throughout the tournament. Without Young's performance against Germany, Team USA hit just 23.6 percent of three-pointers in group play.
Geno Auriemma, head coach of the 2016 team that featured 4 Lynx players, knows the advantages of the chemistry between Team USA and his Aces straight away.
“When you have a group of players that have played and won together and have great chemistry, that's invaluable to a coach and to a team that doesn't have a lot of practice time to prepare,” he said. “As individuals, Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen were just incredible.”
Team USA finished the group stage with a rating of 3-0. With Australia ending the host nation's hopes of a winning streak, the USA enters the knockout rounds because the No. 1 seed. Team USA's quarterfinal match will happen on Wednesday because it continues its quest for an eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal because the 1992 Barcelona Games.
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