VILLENEUVE DASCQ, France — U.S. National Team coach Cheryl Reeve is no stranger to dynasties. From 2011 to 2017, her Minnesota Lynx won four WNBA championships. And at the 2016 Rio Olympics, when Reeve was an assistant, four of her players were key members of the gold-medal squad.
So it must have been comforting, and in some ways familiar, for Reeve to look down at her bench in France and see the four starters for the two-time WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.
On Sunday night, key players from one of the most dominant WNBA teams in recent memory helped lead the team to an 87-68 victory over Germany in their final group game.
The game was fairly even for the first 15 minutes (Germany even led after the first quarter). But midway through the second quarter (a minute after the USA took its first lead of the game on an Alyssa Thomas layup), Reeve brought A’ja Wilson back on the court, and she was joined by Aces guards Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young. With the Aces’ key players on the court, the USA closed the half on a 17-7 run.
With Plumb-Young subbed out midway through the third quarter (while Wilson was already on the court), Team USA got some immediate offensive energy, cutting Germany’s lead to 10 points and ending the quarter on a 20-7 run.
It was a particularly effective night for Young. She scored a team-high 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range. In the first two games, Young played a combined 20 minutes and attempted just one shot, a 3-pointer against Japan in the opening game. Making 3-pointers is especially important for a U.S. team that has struggled from range throughout the tournament. Excluding Young’s performance against Germany, the U.S. team shot just 23.6 percent from 3-point range in group play.
Coach Geno Auriemma, who had four Rins players on his 2016 team, knows the benefits of the chemistry the U.S. team enjoys with its aces.
“When you have a group of players who play together, win together and have great chemistry, that’s invaluable to a coach and a team that doesn’t have a lot of practice time to prepare,” he said. “For me, Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen have been incredible to have together.”
The U.S. team finished group play with a 3-0 record. With Australia ruining the hosts’ hopes of an undefeated streak, the U.S. enters knockout play as the No. 1 seed. Team USA’s quarterfinal match against Nigeria is on Wednesday, as they continue their quest for an eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal dating back to Barcelona 1992.
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(Photo: Jesse D. Garabrandt/Getty Images)
