South Carolina has a familiar face impacting the Olympic Games: A’ja Wilson.
The University of South Carolina alum scored 20 points and had 11 rebounds Wednesday night in helping Team USA women’s basketball defeat Nigeria 88-74 and book yet another ticket to the Olympic semifinals.
“I think we’re really starting to understand keeping the main thing the main thing and how important possessions are, because it’s win or go home and we didn’t come this far to go home,” Wilson said after Wednesday’s win.
The U.S. women’s basketball team has won 59 straight games at the Olympics. They’ll face Australia on Friday evening with a spot in the gold medal game on the line.
Team USA started off a little slow in Wednesday’s quarterfinal game. In a back-and-forth battle through the first 10 minutes of play, the United States took a 26-17 lead into the second quarter thanks to Breanna Stewart, who put up seven of her 13 points.
Ezinne Kalu led Nigeria with eight points through the first 12 minutes of play to keep Team USA on its toes, not allowing them to extend a lead too far. It was Wilson who forced a Nigeria timeout midway through the second after scoring her eighth point of the game.
Team USA continued to steadily add to its lead, with contributions from Jackie Young and Brittney Griner in addition to Wilson. Stewart finished with a layup for a 52-33 halftime lead.
The United States opened the second half on a 10-0 run. They continued to dominate on both sides of the ball with Wilson, Young and Stewart all in double-digits, giving them a 28-point lead after three quarters.
Nigeria kept the crowd in it but was unable to match the ball handling skills of the opponent. The fourth quarter felt similar to the third, with buckets coming from all around the floor for the women in red, white and blue.
“I think we got a lot of great contributions from everyone,” Stewart said. “We know how big each game is and nothing was more important than today, making sure we came out with the right mindset and mentality throughout the entire course of the game.”
Wilson led the team with her double-double. The USC Gamecocks alum who grew up in Hopkins, South Carolina was a 2017 NCAA champion, a four-time All American, Naismith and Wooden awards winner, and was consensus National Player of the Year in her senior season of college.
It didn’t stop there. After being taken No. 1 overall in the 2018 WNBA Draft, she won Rookie of the Year and has only added to her professional accolades since. Currently a four-time All-WNBA player, two-time MVP, two-time DPOY, three-time All-Defensive Team, 2023 WNBA Finals MVP and 2022 and 2023 WNBA champion.
Wilson is looking to add more hardware to the trophy case in Paris.
“Man it’s so much fun talking about a state that doesn’t really get talked about a lot when it comes to just basketball,” Wilson said. “Staying home and just being the person that I am today. I wouldn’t be there without my South Carolina family, so it truly means a lot that I can have everybody in South Carolina watching the game and cheering me on. They’ve kind of watched me from literally high school to now, so it’s a blessing to say that.”
Anna Laible is a student with UNC Media Hub, a program with the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, reporting from the Summer Olympics in Paris. Laible hosts the Speak Up Sports Podcast . Follow her journey covering her first Olympics on her Instagram (@anna_laible).
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