Rokia Doumbia
Mali opened play on Saturday, facing Spain and using a great second half to get the 82-73 victory, their first ever in any group stage of the tournament. Rokia Doumbia had 8 points and a game-high 9 assists in 29 minutes. Former Valkyries draft pick Maria Conde had 5 points in 10 minutes for Spain.
Kokoro Tanaka
Japan was hoping to get the win that would already clinch their spot in the next round, but a poor start against Germany left them too much of a deficit to come back from and they lost 74-58. Kokoro Tanaka led them in scoring with 15 points in 20 minutes.
Gabby Williams and Janelle Salaun
France entered their game against South Korea knowing that a win would qualify them for the quarterfinals. The fell behind early, but ended up dominating the rest of the game to win 95-69. Gabby Williams had 14 points in 29 minutes and Janelle Salaun had 4 points in 16 minutes. Carla Leite added 11 points in 17 minutes and Migna Toure had 6 points in 18 minutes.
Miela Sowah
Australia played again on Sunday, getting the 87-71 win over Turkey. Miela Sowah had 3 points in 3 minutes after entering late in the game. Stephanie Talbot had 17 points in 28 minutes and Chloe Bibby played 12 minutes. The result of the other game in the group that was played later meant that they qualified for the next round and the winner of their next game will advance directly to the quarterfinals.
Cecilia Zandalasini
Italy tried to pull off a major upset against the United States on Sunday as they were able to slow down their opponents and had some leads in the second half. They ended up losing 55-52 even as Cecilia Zandalasini led all scorers with 14 points in 27 minutes, adding 7 rebounds. The team still ended up qualifying for the next round due to the result of the other game in the group.
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