Former Duke star [autotag]Chelsea Gray[/autotag] and the U.S. women’s basketball team moved one step closer to a gold medal on Thursday.
Team USA easily dispatched Belgium for an 87-74 victory, giving the Americans a 2-0 record in pool play.
The game sat knotted at 23 points each after 10 minutes, but Team USA held Belgium to 15 second-quarter points to build an eight-point halftime lead. After hovering around that same mark for most of the second half, the United States rattled off seven unanswered points midway through the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to double digits.
Gray, a three-time WNBA champion, finished the game with three assists and a steal. The Las Vegas Aces guard stole the show during an opening victory over Japan, dealing out 13 assists in the dominant victory.
Thursday’s win virtually assured Team USA of a spot in the quarterfinals as the top two teams from each four-country group clinch a spot in the elimination bracket.
2-0 ✅🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/i4hEOECRLR
— Duke Women’s Basketball (@DukeWBB) August 1, 2024
Gray also helped the United States win gold at the Tokyo Olympics three summers ago.