Olympic basketball schedule 2016: U.S. women’s basketball team faces France in semis

Team USA will continue its seemingly inevitable march towards the gold with a semifinals matchup against France.

Aug 18, 2016, 2:14 PM UTC

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The Olympic women’s basketball tournament is down to just four teams. An appearance in the gold medal game will be on the line when the semifinals begin on Thursday.

Team USA has been as dominant as expected so far. After finishing with five wins in five games in Group B, they crushed Japan in the quarterfinals, 110-64. Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore led all scorers with 19 apiece but it was balanced scoring which powered the offense, as seven players finished with at least 10 points and nine with at least one assist. Defensively, the U.S. had the length to bother Ramu Tokashiki inside, forcing her into a 4-for-14 shooting night. It was complete domination.

Waiting for them in the semifinals is France, the runner-up in the last two editions of Eurobasket. They have been getting things done with defense all tournament long and that didn’t change in the quarterfinals. They held Canada to 36 percent shooting from the floor and allowed only 38 points in the last three quarters after letting their opponent go off for 25 in the first. Veteran center Sandrine Gruda led the way with 18 point and 10 rebounds while emerging star guard Olivia Epoupa had 10 to go with six assists.

Despite a solid tournament so far, France will need a miracle to make it to the gold medal game. Their defense might slow down Team USA’s deadly offense for a while but it won’t stop it and they don’t have the firepower to trade blows. Unless something strange happens, the U.S. should have no problem moving on.

While the best team in the tournament has faced no real challenges yet, on the other side of the bracket there has been a huge upset. No one expected Australia to be eliminated in the quarterfinals but a Serbian team making its debut in the Olympics did just that. Eurobasket MVP Ana Dabovic dropped 24 points, including the last three of the game for her team, which edged out Team USA’s biggest threat in the final seconds.

Now they will face Spain, which came back to beat Turkey on a thriller. Ana Cruz led the way on offense with 14 points and was huge down the stretch, scoring 10 of those in the fourth quarter, including the buzzer-beater that got her team the win. Now they will look to surprise the inexperienced Serbs to earn a spot in the gold medal game, where they would likely face the U.S.