Three Bruins will continue to the women’s basketball knockout stage of the Paris Olympics.
Athletes represented UCLA in each of the three groups during the group phase of the Olympic women’s basketball tournament.
Angela Dugalić, a current UCLA forward, represents Serbia, while recent UCLA graduates Emily Bessoir and Lina Sontag play for Germany. Former Bruins Nirra Fields and Noelle Quinn represented Canada as a guard and lead assistant coach, respectively.
Following the initial two rounds of group phase play, Serbia topped Group A, Canada sat at the bottom of Group B and Germany ranked second in Group C. With a win in the second round against China, Serbia was the second team in the tournament to cement its spot in the quarterfinals.
Making its women’s basketball Olympic debut in Paris, Germany followed closely behind Serbia, beating Japan in the second round to grab a quarterfinal berth.
Despite being the highest-ranked team among the UCLA-represented triad, No. 5 Canada was the only team of the trio to not qualify for the knockout stage after the first two rounds of the group phase. After a loss to Australia, Canada’s dreams of standing on the Olympic podium were almost erased — but a spot in the quarterfinals remained up for grabs.
The top two teams from each group continue on to the quarterfinal round alongside the two best third-place teams from across the three groups. Following the second round, Canada’s hardware hopes depended on performing better than other third-place teams.
But Nigeria pulled off a historic win, eliminating Canada, and became the first African basketball team to reach the Olympic quarterfinals. While it was a historic win for one team, it meant Canada’s exit from the Olympic women’s basketball tournament.
Despite already qualifying for the knockout round, Serbia lost to Spain in its final match of group phase play. During this game, Dugalić totaled seven points, despite playing for only 10 minutes. Dugalić, along with the rest of her Olympic team, will pick up Aug. 7 as they face Australia in the quarterfinals.
Similarly, Germany lost to Team USA in the last round of the group stage and will face France Aug. 7. Both Bessoir and Sontag played for about nine minutes each, with the former putting up three points.
While the dream may have escaped for Fields and Quinn — it still remains for Dugalić, Sontag and Bessoir.
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