2024 Olympics: Serbia, Spain shine in women’s 5x5 basketball

The Paris Olympics have been as good as advertised in women’s 5×5 basketball. With all teams in Group A having played two games, Serbia and Spain have officially qualified for the quarterfinals.

Serbia and Spain grab the first two Quarter-Finals tickets in Women’s #Basketball ️

Which other 6 teams will be through their groups? #Paris2024

— FIBA (@FIBA) July 31, 2024

Spain and Serbia are dominating the group, while Puerto Rico is eighth overall, thanks to a point differential of -4. Unfortunately for China, they’re all but done unless they beat Puerto Rico by 30 points on Saturday.

Serbia sits at the top

Tina Krajišnik and Jovana Nogic celebrate during Serbia’s win over China.

One reason Serbia is at the top of Group A is their dominant 81-59 win over China on Wednesday. Serbia controlled the entire game and completed the blowout win in impressive fashion, outscoring China 19-9 in the closing quarter.

Serbia had a balanced attack, with four players scoring in double figures led by Yvonne Anderson’s 15 points. Tina Krajišnik cleaned the glass better than Windex in the win, pulling down 11 boards. Li Yueru put on an incredible performance in China’s loss to Spain, scoring 31 points. However, she wasn’t able to produce anywhere near that level against Serbia, scoring just eight points on 2-for-3 shooting.

Spain survives (again)

Puerto Rico’s Arella Guirantes attempts to evade the defense of Spain’s Andrea Vilaro and Megan Gustafson.

Spain has had nothing but nail-biting wins during these Olympics. First, they beat China by one point in overtime, and then they mustered another one-point victory, this time against Puerto Rico, 63-62.

There were great performances all around, including Spain’s Megan Gustafson’s double-double. She ended the game with 18 points and 13 rebounds. For Puerto Rico, Arella Guirantes was the biggest contributor, scoring a team-high 15 points. Spain was down by one point with nine seconds left. Leonor Rodriguez took a 3-point shot and missed, but Laura Gil came through in the clutch with an offensive rebound. She was fouled with one second left and ended up converting on both of her free throws.

Puerto Rico still had one last chance to win the game, but Guirantes missed the final 3-point attempt, sealing their fate and allowing Spain to walk away undefeated.

What to watch on Saturday

It’s the battle of the winless when China and Puerto Rico face each other on Saturday at 5:00 a.m. ET (Peacock). Puerto Rico has looked impressive, while China has had one competitive game and one disappointing one. China will need to win big if they want a shot at the quarterfinals; for Puerto Rico, a win would likely be enough to advance to the next stage.

Serbia versus Spain is the polar opposite of the former matchup. Both teams enter the contest undefeated, but after this Saturday showdown at 7:30 a.m. ET (Peacock), only one team will end the group stage having never lost. While both teams have found ways to be victorious, Serbia has been more dominant, so they’ll likely be favored. The key for Serbia will be slowing down Gustafson, who leads Spain in scoring. If the Spaniards win, it’ll likely be because they were able to outrebound Serbia and control the tempo of the game.