Fans are thrilled and excited to see the Team USA women’s basketball squad winning the semi-finals against the Opals by an 85-64 margin. The chief star for the game was the New York Liberty athlete Breanna Stewart who scored her team’s highest 16 points against her Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello’s team. With this, Team USA had their 60th consecutive Olympics win. To get an idea of the last time the women’s USA basketball team lost an Olympic game was when the NBA legend Michael Jordan had two NBA rings.
Sports journalist Alexa Philippou took to the social media platform X to express her happiness on Team USA’s victory. However, she pointed out a crazy stat that had fans going gaga over it.
When did Team USA women’s basketball last lose a game?
As per Philippou, Team USA had last lost an Olympic game in the 1992 quadrennial event. Team USA had played 5 games winning 4 of them. In the opening game, they squared off against Czechoslovakia whom they defeated by a 111-55 margin. The main stars who propelled the team to a blowout victory were Cynthia Cooper who scored the game’s highest 18 points and Medina Dixon who hit 8 rebounds.
During the next game, Team USA were at loggerheads against China who they comfortably defeated by a 93-67 margin. In that game, the main stars were Dixon who scored 19 points, and Vickie Orr who hit 11 rebounds. Next, during their game against Spain, the blue, red, and white upended Spain by a 114-59 margin, advancing to the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, Team USA had to face defeat at the hands of the Soviet Union women’s national basketball team by a narrow margin of 73-79. Though Dixon and Katrina McClain tried their best, scoring 12 points and rebounding 16 respectively, the CIS players edged past the USA by a small margin. During the next game, the USA defeated Cuba and got their hands at the bronze medal. To put things in perspective, Team USA’s last loss was decades ago when Jordan had only two NBA championship rings.
Michael Jordan’s two championship rings
Jordan has been 6x NBA Champion, winning the ring from 1991-1993 and then from 1996-1998. Another interesting fact to note is that he won the Finals MVP in each of those years. During the 1990-91 season, the Chicago Bulls upended the Los Angeles Lakers by a 4-1 margin in the Finals series and clinched the Championship ring. During the regular season, Jordan averaged a whopping 31.5 points with 6 rebounds per game which made him the MVP winner that year.
During the 1991-92 Championship Series, the Bulls won the series by a 4-2 margin against Portland Trail Blazers. Jordan was named the MVP for the second back-to-back time as he averaged an exceptional 30.1 points with 6.4 rebounds per game. The Finale Series took place in June whereas Team USA lost their last Olympic game against the Soviet Union in August.
Hopefully, Team USA will be able to extend their consecutive wins to 61 as they have made their way to the Finals. And perhaps, Jordan too will be gleaming when the squad makes it back to the USA where they will have a warm welcome.
Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.