By Benjamin Mallet
PARIS (Reuters) – The United States clinched a second straight victory in the women’s 3×3 basketball pool stage at the Paris Olympics on Friday with a 14-13 win over France, putting the host nation on the brink of elimination.
The reigning champions, who snapped their three-match victory drought from the start of the tournament on Thursday, had to be calm and patient to win a physical and defence-dominated clash.
“It was just being able to tough through that toughness and gut it out,” said American Dearica Hamby.
“We are getting better at figuring out our chemistry and each game we add something different. We are just happy to get a couple of wins.”
France, who struggled to connect from deep and were dominated by the Americans on the glass, remain struck at the bottom of the standings, along with Azerbaijan after notching a single win from five games.
The win moved the U.S., who have two more pool games to play, up to a sixth place in the standings, which would be enough for them to reach the knockout phase.
Earlier, Australia recorded a comfortable 21-12 win over Azerbaijan but then lost 21-17 to Spain without the injured Lauren Mansfield.
Germany moved top of the standings by beating China 18-15 in the first game of the day.
On the men’s side, reigning champions Latvia beat France 22-20 to remain the only undefeated team in Paris and lock up a semi-final spot.
In the pool stage, the teams play a round robin. The top two from the pool go straight to the semi-finals and the next four teams play off for the other two spots in the last four.
Eight more games will be played later on Friday.
(Reporting by Benjamin Mallet; Editing by Toby Davis)
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