U.S. headed to Olympic final

Brittney Griner scored 15 points and hauled in 12 rebounds and Team USA jumped out to a 25-12 lead after one and never looked back in a 79-59 win over Serbia that advanced it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medal game.

Neither Breanna Stewart nor A’ja Wilson needed to star in order for the U.S. to come away with the semifinal win at Saitama Super Arena on Friday, though Stewart did contribute 12 points and 10 rebounds to back up Griner. Meanwhile, Chelsea Gray notched 14 points, doubling her Olympic-high set in the previous game. Gray was 2-of-2 from long range.

USA shot worse than 50 percent from the field, so it wasn’t dominant offensively, but held Serbia to 30.3 percent. The U.S. won despite turning the ball over 17 times.

USA women’s basketball has now made it to the gold medal game in 10 of the 12 tournaments in Olympic history. It has eight golds (six in a row), a silver and a bronze. It has medaled every year it has participated; it boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics.