One half of the women’s basketball gold medal matchup at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games is set after Spain held an edge in rebounding and shooting in its victory over Serbia by a final of 68-54.
With the win, it also means Serbia would play in the Bronze Medal Game against the loser of United States vs. France.
Coming off of a major upset of the second-ranked team in the world, Australia, it is possible that Serbia could have felt tired as well as added pressure after having to take on Spain next. Such is the nature of international tournaments such as the Olympics.
Alba Torrens and Ndour Astou led Spain with 14 points each. Laura Nicholls also played a major role by contributing 13 points and 12 rebounds to the Spain effort. Silvia Dominguez also pitched in with 10 points.
Serbia got 12 points from Sonja Petrovic (who also had seven rebounds) as well as Sasa Cado. Jelena Milovanovic also finished with 10 points as did Danielle Page. Ana Dabovic, coming off a 24-point outing in Serbia’s upset victory over Australia, was held to only eight points, greatly lessening Serbia’s effort.
What also greatly lessened the Serbia effort was the rebounding strength of Spain, who out-boarded Serbia by a tally of 44-31. Serbia also shot only 31 percent from the field in addition to going two out of 12 from behind the three-point arc.
Serbia trailed by only five at the halftime period, but that gap would grow to 15 at the conclusion of the third quarter, and would eventually be 14 when the scoreboard hit triple-zeroes.
By: Akiem Bailum (@AkiemBailum on Twitter, Instagram)
