Spain vs. Serbia 2016 Rio Olympics final score: Spain beats Serbia, 68-54, will play in their first gold medal game

An ugly battle between two teams who barely held on to survive the quarterfinals finished with Spain toppling Serbia, 68-54. The two teams combined to shoot just 37 percent from the field and 21 percent from deep, but the Spaniards’ rebounding advantage and ability to get to the free throw line made the difference.

Serbia struggled to get into any sort of flow offensively from the get go in the opening quarter, shooting 4-of-20 from the field for nine points, not getting to the line once. Los Angeles Spark Ana Dabovic, one of Serbia’s highest scorers and shot takers, only had four points on three shots with Spain’s interior defense challenging her every drive. The Serbians struggled to get clean looks running the Dabovic-centric offense, which carried them over Australia.

Spain hit half of its 14 shot attempts in the first quarter, mostly off cuts backdoor that slipped by the Serbian defense. The Spaniards were able to get to the line six times and connect on five. Laura Nicholls hit all four of her tries for 6 points total to lead 20-9.

The second quarter ran opposite to the first with Spain held to just two points in five minutes, while Serbia went on an 11-2 run, capitalizing off the Spaniards turning the ball over four times. Serbia’s Sasa Cado found her way for five points in the spurt, connecting on her second three of the game. She scored 10 points in the half. Astou Ndour helped Spain maintain a slight lead though as they recovered from a dismal opening, finishing the half with five points and five rebounds.

Spain led 33-28 after the opening 20 minutes.

Serbia went scoreless in the first six minutes of the quarter, and with slightly less terrible shooting, Spain was only able to expand its lead by eight points. Serbia’s Jelena Milovanovic, a key player in their upset over Australia, struggled mightily and subbed out midway through the quarter with her fourth foul, having shot 1-for-7 from the field.

The frustration for Serbia was evident by the end of the quarter as the Phoenix Mercury’s Sonja Petrovic punted a sign on the baseline in anger after a bad pass, ripping through it. She was given a technical foul.

Spain led 53-38 after the third.

Poor shooting progressed through the fourth, with both teams unable to do anything consistently. Each team scored four points in the first five minutes of the game to make an already low-scoring game stay that way. Serbia struggled to finish layups and Spain couldn’t finish at the free throw line. Still, behind a 44-31 rebounding advantage, and 29-12 free throw attempt advantage, Spain was able to keep their double-digit lead.

An ugly game ended with Spain on top, and they will advance to Saturday’s gold medal game.

We’ve seen Team USA obliterate Spain by 40 already, and if the Spaniards play similarly to this game against Serbia again, it’ll be worse. With poor ball movement and a lack of superstars to take over, the USA should go up big quickly.

Spain’s offense was scrappy and unset. They struggled to get off clean looks, failed to get the ball to Ndour enough on the inside and their only real positive was their 11 offensive rebounds. That rebounding advantage won’t exist against a much taller American lineup. More specifically with Brittney Griner in there.

It took an Anna Cruz buzzer-beater to get there, but Spain women’s basketball will take a medal for the first time ever. The Serbians still have a chance to do the same should they win their bronze medal game.

The Spaniards had some luck in having Serbia take down Australia for them, but no matter the finish a second-place finish is an impressive feat in a field that wasn’t theirs in the first place.