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E-mail Xinhua, August 12, 2024
Gabby Williams' beat-the-buzzer long shot was counted as two points and France failed to pull down one of the biggest victories in the Olympic basketball history, losing 67-66 to the United States in the women's basketball final at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Trailing by 67-64 with three seconds left, Williams, who scored 19 points, made the basket on the top of the arc. The screen of the Bercy Arena flashed with "Three-pointer" and the whole stadium was in ecstasy until the referees confirmed it as a two-point shot.
This is the eighth time in a row the U.S. women's basketball team won the gold medal dating back to the Atlanta 1996, after their 61st consecutive victory at the Olympics.
Starting the second quarter on 17-9, the Americans failed to find their attacking power to let the hosts come back and even lead by 25-23. Napheesa Collier's layup tied it on 25-25 to avoid the first fall-back before the break in Paris for the U.S..
France had a dream opening in the second half with a 10-0 run for a 35-25 lead, the biggest margin in the match, but Collier's lay-up usurped their lead by 41-40 with 2:30 to go in the quarter.
A standing ovation of the packed Bercy Arena whistled the final quarter by 45-43 for the U.S., and the two teams exchanged baskets to tie six times all the way up to 55-55.
Leading 60-59 with 1:32 left, the U.S. picked up their defence to extend the gap to four points before Williams made the last shot.
Australia defeated Belgium 85-81 to win the bronze medal, the first Olympic medal since the London 2012 for the three-time silver medalists.
After a quite even 37-36 first half, Australia opened up the lead by 52-42 before Belgium used a 17-5 run to make it 59-57.
Leading by 61-60 to enter the fourth quarter, Belgium fell back again by 76-69 after Alanna Smith's three-point play with just over four minutes left.
It was a three-point game on 81-78 with almost one minute to go, but Belgium couldn't get closer after that until Julie Vanloo's beat-the-buzzer 3-pointer.
Ezi Magbegor had 30 points and 13 rebounds for Australia, while Vanloo and Emma Meesseman contributed 26 and 23 points respectively for Belgium.
