Team USA Women's Basketball DEFEATS Germany in 2024 Olympics, Win Group C I CBS Sports

Team USA women's basketball wrapping up another dominant stretch of group play, defeating Germany 87-68 and clinching Group C on Sunday. Jackie Young scored 19 points for the Americans who now head to the quarterfinals on Wednesday. The U.S. stretched their win streak to 58 straight games at the Olympics, their last loss coming back in 1992. Like Team USA men did on Saturday, the women finished top of Group C, a plus 58 points differential. Germany suffered their first loss and fall to 2-1. They were also through to the quarterfinals alongside Belgium from Group C. Let's discuss that U.S. win with our Erika Ayala who joins us from France. Team USA get the victory as expected. Erika, your thoughts on the game and what you saw this afternoon. Well, I think we talked about this earlier, Jeremy, that Germany was able to do a few things, especially shooting from the perimeter early on, getting a few more shots out of or opportunities within the shot clock. That being said, the United States settled in. Germany maybe sped up a little bit. And we ultimately saw what we expected, that the United States would win the group and they would do so in dominant fashion. Also got to see the emergence of Jackie Young. We talked to head coach Cheryl Reeve after the game and she said that Jackie Young earned the increased time that she got. And we saw that today. She led the United States in scoring. And we expect her head coach Cheryl Reeve to see more of Jackie Young, more minutes for Jackie Young as this team moves forward. Yeah, we talked about some of the contributions from other members of this team because everything so far has gone through Asia Wilson and Brianna Stewart. The two did combine for 27 points on Sunday. But if I asked you to pick someone on this team who you see as the MVP of the group stage, who are you taking right now? Oh, man, this is such a tough question, especially the history between these two, not just in the WNBA where we know they go head to head, but also on the same team with Team USA. That's my way of stalling. But I'm going to give you an answer. I'm going to give you an answer. I promise. As of right now, I'm going with Asia Wilson. Now, the stats are very comparable and actually Stewie is doing better than Asia Wilson from the three point lines. But that's Stewie's game. She's a little bit more of a stretch post player. But I think that right now there's two things that give this to Asia Wilson for me. One is that she's rebounding at a higher clip than Brianna Stewart. And I think that's what the United States needs right now. Sure, they'll take perimeter shooting, but they absolutely are dominating in the paint. And as I mentioned earlier today, talking about second chance opportunities. And that's because of the work of Asia Wilson, the second reason. And I actually got to talk to Asia about this. She used the word blessed to talk about not having any drop off between what she's doing in the WNBA, where she is obviously the MVP, the leading MVP candidate to Team USA. And she knows that this is a tough competition, the best in the world that she's playing against. And, of course, with because she plays for the United States. But because of her rebounding and if I had to talk about outside of the Olympic tournament, the fact that Asia Wilson is still Asia Wilson in the WNBA in an Olympic year and for Team USA, she's my MVP in the group stage. So the USA now waits to see if it'll be China, Australia or Belgium in the knockout stage. Erica, of those three, which team do you think could provide the biggest challenge to Team USA? Hands down, the answer is Belgium. And I think that's what the people want. Belgium, not too far from where we are right now. Of course, the tournament will be moving to Paris. But Belgium fans have traveled very well to see this Olympic tournament. They know basketball very well. Head coach Cheryl Reeve was talking about how impressive the crowd was, that these are basketball fans watching the tournament. And I've mentioned it before in the qualifiers where the United States did not need to win that qualifying tournament. They were already in. But in that first game, Belgium really gave them a run for their money. And again, in the group stage here in the 2024 Olympics. So I would love to see them match up with Belgium. I'm not sure if that's what Belgium is exactly going to want. But among those teams that you mentioned, Belgium is definitely the best competition from what we've seen so far. Yes, and they played each other, of course, in Group C, the U.S. winning 87-74 in that first matchup. Erica, looking at the remaining teams in this field, what we know so far, who do you see as the biggest threat to Team USA capturing another gold medal? Well, Germany, I think, is still a threat. Unfortunately, it seems like they might be down another player. We spoke to Lisa Tomaitis after the game. She's hoping that Niara Sabaly, Satu's younger sister, will be back. She's in concussion protocol right now from Game 1. Leonie Fibich, who is actually Brianna Stewart's teammate for the New York Liberty, looked like she just kind of a basketball play, maybe took a shot to the midsection. Not sure if it was midsection or arm. Germany's a little bit hurt right now. The other team, though, and I mentioned this earlier, you have to look at France. They're going to play Australia in just a little bit here. And I think that not only because they are the host nation, but because they have been together for at least the last year, including playing in EuroLeague together, a lot of them. This is a team that among most of the rest of the field, they have that chemistry locked down. So I'm really excited for what Team France is going to do, but I still think Germany is probably the best competition, at least from what we've seen in pool play. And you saw the odds there. France's second favorites to Engel, the plus 1,000. The knockout stage begins on Wednesday. The gold medal game is a week from today. She is basketball analyst Erica Ayala joining us from France as she follows Team USA's quest to once again defend their Olympic gold medal. And be sure to check out our brand new groundbreaking women-focused podcast, We Need to Talk Now, hosted by Ashley Nicole Moss and Alicia J. The latest episode discussing Team USA gymnastics goat Simone Biles and her return to Olympic glory. You can download and follow wherever you get your podcasts or scan that QR code to listen right now.