The USA Basketball women’s national team is headed to the quarterfinals after a 102-76 win over Latvia, who was eliminated in the loss.
Elena Delle Donne sat out the game due to rest and she’s also not 100 percent from her knee injury in the WNBA playoffs. In addition, Sue Bird sat out the game for rest reasons.
The official word from @usabasketball is that @S10Bird and @De11eDonne aren't hurt; they are just resting.
— Doug Feinberg (@DougFeinberg) September 25, 2018
Today, we saw many of the younger players put up bigger performances. Layshia Clarendon got extended playing time where she dished seven assists and Jewell Loyd scored 11 points on 3 of 5 shooting after being inefficient in her first two games. Brittney Griner finally had her debut where she scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds. Veterans still led the way however, as Tina Charles led the American scorers with 18 points and Diana Taurasi added 16 more.
For Team Latvia, Anete Steinberga led their scorers with 30 points, but didn’t seem to get particularly much help from anyone else.
Team USA will rest until Friday when they know which team they will face in the quarterfinals.