Team USA women’s basketball routs Nigeria for 1st exhibition win originally appeared on NBC Sports Northwest
After losing its first two exhibition games ahead of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the U.S. women’s basketball team scored its first victory of the year, blowing out Nigeria, 93-62.
Seattle’s duo of Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird had solid games, scoring 14 and 9 points respectively. In fact, Bird’s 75% shooting Sunday led the Americans, with all shot attempts coming from beyond the three-point arc.
The regining WNBA Finals MVP added 14 points, six assists and four rebounds in 24 minutes. 10 of her 14 points came in the first quarter.
Leading the Americans in scoring was Las Vegas Aces forqard A’ja Wilson with 16 points on 7-10 shooting.
Jewell Loyd, the third Storm player on Team USA, had 10 points, three assists and three rebounds in 21 minutes. All three Seattle representives started along with Wilson and Brittney Griner.
No Nigerian player scored in double figures, with the team making just 30.6% of its fiield goal attempts. Team USA shot 53.8% from the floor and 56.3% from three-point range.
Next, the Americans will open Olympic play in Japan on July 26th against Nigeria, coincidentally, at 9:40 p.m. PST.