RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Another game, another rout for the U.S. women’s basketball team. This time though, it wasn’t record setting.
Diana Taurasi scored 13 points and Elena Delle Donne added 12 to help the Americans beat Spain 103-63 on Monday in women’s group play.
The victory was the 43rd consecutive for the U.S. (2-0) in the Olympics. The contest was a rematch of the 2014 world championship gold medal game that the Americans won by 13. While this win didn’t come in the same record fashion the U.S. opened the Olympics with when it beat Senegal by 65 points, the Americans coasted after the first few minutes.
Spain (1-1) led 8-6 before the U.S. closed the quarter on a 23-6 burst. Once again first-time Olympian Delle Donne was in the middle of it. She had seven points, including a 3-pointer from the wing that made it 27-11 during the game-changing spurt. The Spaniards couldn’t get within single digits the rest of the way.
The U.S. was nowhere as crisp as it was in the opening rout of Senegal, and Spain had a lot to do with that.