Olympics-Basketball-Boos are beautiful for US women as they march on to quarters

By Angelica Medina

LILLE, France (Reuters) -Defending champions the United States secured their spots in the quarter-finals of the Olympic women's basketball alongside France and Germany on Thursday after convincing victories at the Paris Games.

The U.S. withstood the boos of the near-home crowd in the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Lille, near the Belgian border, as they beat Belgium 87-74 in Group C to take a step closer to getting their eighth gold medal in the event.

Belgium, who trailed the U.S. early on, managed to tie the game at 23-23 in the first quarter thanks to Antonia Delaere and Emma Meesseman's efforts who combined for 40 points.

However, the U.S. soon got in the groove thanks to a stellar performance by Breanna Stewart, who made 26 points and A'ja Wilson, who made 23.

"I love it playing a game like this where it's so loud that it doesn't become noise anymore, it's feels, you just wanna go out and play just the best game and that's what we did," Wilson said after the game.

"I love when the crowd does that against us (booing), that is a beautiful thing about our game ... proving people wrong."

Germany edged past Japan 75-64 earlier thanks to the unstoppable Satou Sabally, who scored 33 points to book their place in the next round, after they also beat Belgium in their opener.

"We believed in ourselves the whole time and I think now it's finally showing that German basketball is really elevated in Europe and all around the world," the WNBA Dallas Wings forward told reporters.

Japan will meet Belgium in their last Group C match as they will hope to pick up enough points to finish in the top two third-placed teams of the pool stage and advance.

In Group B, France proved themselves worthy of the Olympic task with a dominant 75-54 win over Nigeria, putting them at the top of the group. Gabby Williams got 14 points, five rebounds and seven assists to help them advance to the matches that switch to Paris for the quarter-finals onwards.

"It was very important to get those two wins and go to Paris. We really wanted to make sure we could get there. We want to go there and we want to finish at the top," said France coach Jean-Aime Toupane.

Australia defeated Canada 70-65 in the earlier Group B match to secure their first Olympic win after an opening loss to Nigeria.

With the win, Australia have their sights set on a berth in the quarter-finals when they take on group leaders France on Sunday, while Canada must beat Nigeria to remain in the running.

(Reporting by Angelica Medina; Editing Ed Osmond and Alison Williams)