PARIS (AP) — Jade Melbourne scored 14 of her 18 points by halftime and Australia advanced to the Paris Olympics semifinals in women’s basketball by routing Serbia 85-67 on Wednesday.
The Opals had to win their group-play finale to reach the elimination round, and they got a bit of revenge by beating the country that stunned them in the quarterfinals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Australia came into the Paris Games ranked third in the world, and the Opals are looking for their first Olympic medal since taking bronze at the 2012 London Games.
Their semifinal opponent Friday will be the U.S., an 88-74 winner over Nigeria. The Americans are the reigning Olympic champions and looking for an unprecedented eighth consecutive gold. Nigeria opened these games beating the Opals for the country’s first Olympic win since 2004 in Athens.
Belgium reached its first semifinal in the Cats’ second Olympic appearance, routing Spain 79-66 to advance. The Cats celebrated with fans by clapping three times and then a couple of players ran around the court celebrating the victory.
They will play France, which ended Germany’s Olympic debut, on Friday for the chance to play for gold.
Serbia is going home at the earliest point of the country’s third straight Olympic appearance following a stunning loss that left the players sobbing or trying to hold back tears in the final minutes. The Serbs won bronze in their Olympic debut at the Rio Games and finished fourth three years ago in Tokyo.
The Opals led 48-32 at halftime. In Tuesday’s men’s quarterfinals, Australia blew a 24-point lead and lost in overtime to Serbia. The women never came close to that Wednesday.
Alanna Smith scored nine of her 22 points in the third quarter, and Australia pushed its lead to 28 at one point. Cayla George added 17 and Sami Whitcomb had 15 for the Opals.
Jovana Nogic led Serbia with 17 points. Angela Dugalic added 14 and Ivana Raca 10.
U.S. 88, Nigeria 74
The Americans notched their 59th straight victory since the program’s last loss in the 1992 Barcelona Games, and now they move into the semifinal against an old foe in Australia needing two more wins to do something no team has done in Olympic history.
Belgium 79, Spain 66
Emma Meesseman, who last played in the WNBA in 2022 with Chicago and was an All-Star that year, set the tone by knocking down back-to-back 3s to open the game for Belgium.
The Belgian Cats have been on the rise lately internationally behind Meesseman. They placed seventh in the Tokyo Games, fifth at the World Cup a year later and won the EuroBasket championship last year. The Cats had never reached the Olympic quarterfinals before.
Meesseman finished with 19 points, snapping her Olympic women’s basketball record of games with at least 20 points at seven straight.
Now the Cats will have a chance at a medal despite losing point guard Julie Allemand just before the opening ceremony when she reinjured an ankle that had kept her out all season for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
They also lost center Becky Massey with six minutes left in the third. She badly rolled her right ankle and went down immediately. Spain, in a nice gesture, placed the ball out of bounds, giving it back to Belgium despite trailing 59-37 at the time.
Kyara Linskens also had 19 for Belgium. Antonia Delaere and Julie Vanloo added 13 apiece.
It was a disappointing finish for Spain with Pau Gasol, former NBA great and now International Olympic Committee member, watching courtside.
Spain won silver at the 2016 Rio Games, then finished sixth three years ago at the Tokyo Games. The Spaniards missed the 2022 World Cup, and they brought in Megan Gustafson, the 2019 AP women’s college basketball player of the year out of Iowa, last summer.
Gustafson scored 12 of her 21 points in the first quarter, including a 3 that tied it at 26 going into the second. Then the Cats outscored Spain 22-11 in the second to take control and lead 48-37 at halftime. Belgium had a 19-12 edge in the third, taking a 67-49 lead into the fourth.
Maite Cazorla added 13 for Spain.
France 84, Germany 71
Marine Johannes scored 24 points as host France moved closer to its best finish since taking silver in 2012 at the London Games.
France, which won bronze three years ago, has put on a defensive show during the Paris Games, starting with holding Canada to a record two points — the fewest in any quarter of an Olympic game, men’s or women’s.
With the crowd behind it, France led 23-19 after the first quarter and 22-14 in the second before taking a 45-33 halftime lead. France led by as many as 16 points in the second, coming up with 10 steals as Germany turned it over 13 times. France turned those into 12 points.
Better yet, France showed off some serious depth with a 54-22 edge in scoring off the bench.
Gabby Williams added 15 points, and Alexia Chery had 10 for France.
Germany got back Nyara Sabally, who plays for the WNBA’s New York Liberty, from concussion protocol and an injury suffered in the opener of group play. She scored 20 off the bench and grabbed 13 rebounds.
Alexis Peterson added 15 points, Satou Sabally 12 and Marie Guelich 11.
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