Earlier in the knockout round of the Olympics, Serbia claimed victory over Australia to advance to the semifinals where they were defeated by eventual silver medalists Spain.
Australia is the second-ranked team in the world.
In order to be on the medal stand for these Games, Serbia had to defeat the No. 4 ranked team in the world—France. They did just that as Serbia topped France by a final of 70-63 to earn themselves a bronze medal.
France were silver medalists at the last Summer Olympics in London.
As has been the case for Serbia throughout this tournament, they received big contributions from Jelena Milovanovic (18 points, seven rebounds), Ana Dabovic (11 points, five assists), Danielle Page (10 points, eight rebounds), and Sonja Petrovic (10 points).
Endy Miyem finished with 18 points, Valeriane Ayayi had 10 points, and Isabelle Yacoubou had another ten rebounds. Serbia managed to win this game despite the fact that they were outrebounded 43-31. France did commit a grand total of 20 turnovers, greatly harming their efforts to claim a spot on the medal stand.
After a pedestrian start to the game, Serbia began to open up a 12-3 lead at one point in the first quarter. It was 17-10 when the opening period concluded. France managed to come back as both teams were all knotted up at 27 as halftime commenced.
What was a tied score at the half became a 13-point lead for Serbia at the conclusion of the third quarter. Ayayi made a pair of three-pointers to close the gap to seven, but they came at the end of the game as it became time for Serbia to celebrate a bronze medal.
By: Akiem Bailum (@AkiemBailum on Twitter, Instagram)
