Todd Barin
Web Editorial Associates
Twitter
The U.S. Women’s National team continued their dominant play on Wednesday afternoon, beating Serbia handily, 110-84.
Diana Taurasi broke an American record, one that she set, for most 3-pointers in a contest at the Big Games with six made shots from beyond-the-arc.
Thanks to her performance from range, Taurasi notched a game-high 25 points along with six assists. Maya Moore and Tina Charles also put together solid overall games, combining on the afternoon for 25 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
As if the heavily favored Americans needed any more better-than-usual performances, they got a nice lift from Angel McCoughtry and rookie Breanna Stewart off the bench, who teamed up for 30 points and nine boards.
Serbia put together a nice second-half of basketball, but it was the first half that allowed the U.S. to cruise to their third straight victory in Brazil, leading 56-34 after 20 minutes.
Despite suffering a 26-point loss, the Serbian starting forwards all played well, tallying a combined 45 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Numbers Game:
22: Although Serbia did walk off the court disappointed, they shot the ball surprising well, hitting 41.5 percent of their shots from the field and outshooting the Americans by this percentage from beyond-the-arc.
19: While the U.S may not have shot well from deep, they did do impressive work in the paint. Charles, Stewart and Sylvia Fowles were absolute beasts down low and contributed heavily to the Americans outrebounding their opponent by this many.
30: The Women’s National team made 38 shots on Wednesday afternoon and tallied an assist on this many makes. If the U.S continues to play selflessly and notch over 25 assists a game, they are going to be extremely hard to take down.
100: Tall or short, big or small, male or female, one facet of the game all basketball players should master is a free throw. After Wednesday’s performance, it is clear that the players on the USABWNT have been practicing their shots from the charity stripe. The Americans shot 26 free throws in the matchup against Serbia and made this percentage of them.