Ezinne Kalu celebrates victory against Canada. GETTY IMAGES

The women's tournament ends on Sunday. In the quarter-finals, the pairings will be: USA-Nigeria, Spain-Belgium, France-Germany and Serbia-Australia. They will be played next Wednesday. The draw for the semi-finals is yet to be made. The United States and Spain cannot meet until the final.

The Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille closes as the venue for the Games. Basketball moves to Paris-Bercy for the medal play-offs. And Australia will be one of eight women's teams there. They needed to beat France to qualify, and they played their best game to do so.

They struggled until the final minutes, but when the buzzer sounded, they hugged each other on the court for the win (79-72) and their qualification. Tess Madgen led the Australian attack with 18 points. She made 4/6 three-pointers. Serbia awaits them in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Australia's Team celebrate at the end of the women's preliminary round. GETTY IMAGES
Australia's Team celebrate at the end of the women's preliminary round. GETTY IMAGES

France only needed to avoid a large-margin loss to top the group but had to win to be part of the first draw to determine the quarter-final matchups. Gabby Williams scored 15 points but was somewhat isolated in the attack. The France-Germany game on Wednesday promises to be a great match.

The big story in this group is not Australia, but Nigeria. Twenty years ago, at Athens 2004, they became the first women's basketball team from Africa to win a game at the Olympics. Now, they are the first to reach the quarter-finals.

They achieved this milestone by beating Canada 79-70 on Sunday. The game was challenging for them, as the Canadians needed a large win to secure third place and had a chance of reaching the quarter-finals.


The key moment was the third quarter when the Nigerians suffocated their opponents and held them to within five points. Canada did not give up, but Nigeria was able to hold off their comeback attempts. Ezinne Kalu had another strong performance with 21 points and three steals.

On Wednesday, Nigeria will be in unfamiliar territory as they face the toughest opponent: the USA. The Americans are the favorites, but the Africans have nothing to lose in that matchup.

Group C

The USA overcame Germany's resistance in the match that decided the first place in Group C. The Germans started strong, but in the second quarter, the Americans raised their defensive level and went into halftime with a 12-point lead (29-41).

The third quarter sealed the game, with the USA constantly punishing the German rim. However, Germany did not relent. Point differential is crucial in the Olympic basketball tournament, which explains their effort in the last quarter to ensure they didn't lose their qualification.

The USA ended up winning 68-87, with Jackie Young as the top scorer with 19 points, supported by the outstanding performances of Breanna Stewart and A'ja Wilson. For Germany, Satou Sabally was again her team's top scorer with 15 points. In the quarter-finals, they will face hosts France.



Diana Taurasi's sixth gold medal is coming up. She is the first player to participate in the Games, like Rudy Fernandez in the men's tournament, but she is looking to make it a success story. In Paris she is a leader, but off the court. Inside she is playing a much less important role than she has been used to in her career.

Belgium qualified by doing exactly what it needed to do. After Saturday's Group A results, the Belgians had to beat Japan by 27 points, and they did just that, winning 85-58. Before the end, they even surpassed a 30-point lead. The end of the game was all about managing the gap to keep it under 27 points.

Emma Meesseman was once again the star of the team. In this third game, she scored a team-high 30 points. She also had 11 rebounds, five blocks, and four assists. She is averaging more than 26 points per game in the first round. On Wednesday, she will be Spain's nightmare quarter-final opponent. In 2023, Belgium became EuroBasket champions after beating Spain in the final.

Japan bowed out of the Games after losing all three of their games. However, it must be recognized that against the USA and Germany, they managed to compete and give a decent performance. Against Belgium, in a game they had to win to reach the quarter-finals, they had no chance.