Breanna Stewart And A’ja Wilson Carried Team USA To A Hard-Fought Win Over Belgium

The USA women’s basketball team punched its ticket to the knockout round of the 2024 Olympics tournament on Thursday with a 87-74 win over Belgium, but it was a far more tense game than most anticipated.

Belgium was able to keep things level after the first 10 minutes, as it was tied at 23-23 going into the second quarter. There, the American defense flexed its muscle, holding Belgium to just 13 points to give Team USA a 10-point edge going into halftime, and the expectation was they’d stretch that out and cruise to a win. However, Belgium had other ideas, as they kept things within reach for much of the second half, winning the third quarter 15-14 and making Team USA keep their foot on the gas all the way to the end. Emma Meesseman led the way for Belgium with 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting, while Antonia Delaere added 16 points, pouring in four threes.

Those two were able to keep Belgium in touch throughout, but ultimately, the American star bigs proved too much for Belgium to handle. While Team USA struggled shooting the ball on the evening (5-of-14 from three), Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson were absolutely dominant. The two MVPs combined for 49 of Team USA’s 87 points, leading them to a win and clinching a knockout round appearance with one more game left in the group stage.

Stewart finished with 26 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, while Wilson had 23 points and 13 rebounds. There just aren’t answers on many rosters for those two, and even with Team USA’s guards struggling to provide much support, their effort was enough to get the win.

The question now is whether we see any lineup changes going forward to Cheryl Reeve’s rotation, as veteran starters Chelsea Gray and Diana Taurasi both were held scoreless and saw their time on the floor limited to 9 minutes and 14 minutes, respectively. Team USA seems to have a bit more offensive juice with Jewell Loyd and Sabrina Ionescu on the floor, and we’ll see if there are any shakeups for their final group game against Germany on Sunday at 11:15 a.m. ET (USA Network).