Emma Meesseman helps Belgium advance to the quarterfinals in Olympic women’s basketball

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — Belgium star Emma Meesseman is going blonde.

The forward, who has now scored 20 or more points in an Olympic women’s basketball record seven straight games, helped her team advance to the quarterfinals with an 85-58 win over Japan on Sunday.

Meesseman, who finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds, promised her teammates that if the Belgians advanced to Paris she’d dye her brown hair blonde.

“That will have to wait,” she said, smiling, “after we’re done in Paris.”

Getting to Paris seemed far-fetched to Meesseman and her Belgian teammates after an opening loss to Germany. Then a defeat to the U.S. in the next game left Belgium in need of a huge win over Japan — by at least 27 points — to guarantee a spot in the quarterfinals.

“It’s a little miracle, I think. I mean, I’m pretty realistic, too. Not pessimistic, but realistic and me, after Germany, I knew that it’s going to be really hard, you know?” she said. “It was really hard to recharge myself. And then as soon as I saw the crowd against USA, I was like, ‘okay, I know what I’ll do it for now.’ I do it for the fans, for ourselves, for Belgium.”

There were more than 25,000 fans for the Belgians loss to the U.S. and then another huge pro-Cats crowd was in the arena Sunday morning. The Belgium border is very close to the arena.

“Standing in the middle with all these people around you, I can’t describe it,” Meesseman said. “That’s the thing I will remember of this Olympics already. Of that last minute.”

Belgium was flirting with the 27-point margin in the final minute. They were up 29 with 19 seconds left when Meesseman turned the ball over in the backcourt and Japan gained possession. Stephanie Mawuli hit two free throws to make it 85-58.

Belgium called timeout and advanced the ball. Japan just let them run the clock out setting off a wild celebration with the Cats hugging, dancing and soaking in the adoration from their fans.

Paris Olympics

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“It was crazy at the end,” Belgian coach Rachid Meziane said. “So we had to keep our focus till the end.”

The Belgian Cats have been on the rise lately internationally behind Meesseman. They placed seventh in the Tokyo Games, fifth at the World Cup a year later and won the EuroBasket championship last year. Now they’re back in the quarterfinals of the Olympics.