After nearly a full week of action at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, the rubber is meeting the road: We’ve reached the final day of group stage competition, with four women’s games left to determine which teams will move on to the knockout stage and which will go home. Follow along for a breakdown of all the action as it happens.
MEN’S STANDINGS
WOMEN’S STANDINGS
Women’s Group C: Belgium 85, Japan 58
The Belgians actually did it. After dropping its first two games of group play against the U.S. and Germany, Belgium — considered a medal dark horse by many entering Paris after winning EuroBasket last year — knew it was facing an uphill climb to the knockout round. It wouldn’t be enough for the team to win its final game against Japan; it would have to win by at least 27, a margin that would flip its point differential (-27 entering Sunday) to eclipse that of the third-place team in Group A, China (-1).
And wouldn’t you know, they hit their number on the button.
Belgium came out flying in the opening quarter, building a 19-7 lead behind Emma Meesseman and ferocious defense that smothered the undersized Japanese. From there, the scoreboard watching was on, Belgium trying to build as big a margin as it could as the partisan crowd at Stade Pierre-Mauroy did its best to egg it on.
All of which set up a wild final few minutes. Belgium entered the fourth quarter with a 61-39 lead, five points away from the magic number. Consecutive 3s from Elias Ramette stretched the lead to 30, but Japan refused to lie down, consistently scoring to keep the margin right on the edge.
In the end, Meesseman did just enough to take it home: The star forward poured in 30 points on 14-of-21 shooting, including six of her team’s final eight points, the last two of which put the lead back up to 31. Japan would score two baskets in the final minute to cut it back to 27, but it elected not to foul with 16 seconds left and Belgium was able to run out the clock — and punch its ticket to the knockout round.
The win clinches third place in Group C for Belgium, with a point differential of exactly 0 — guaranteeing them a finish above China. The Chinese can still advance, though, as their point differential is still higher than the potential third-place teams in Group B (Nigeria and Australia are at -8, Canada at -26). Nigeria plays Canada and Australia plays France later Sunday.
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