Four Mercury Players Advance to Semifinals of Rio Olympics

It’s officially official. Saturday’s gold-medal women’s basketball game will feature at least one Mercury player – and likely a couple more.

That much was confirmed after Tuesday’s quarterfinal round, in which four Phoenix stars representing three different countries advanced to Thursday’s semifinals.

The USA took care of business against Japan, routing their opponent by a final score of 110-64. Other winners with ties to the Mercury were Serbia and Spain, which defeated Australia and Turkey, respectively.

The Americans will now face France on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. with a spot in the finals on the line. On the other side of the bracket, Serbia and Spain will compete for the remaining berth at 11:00 a.m. The USA is looking to win its six consecutive gold medal.

Below is a player-by-player look at how each of Phoenix’s own performed in Rio in the first knockout round.

Diana Taurasi: Early in the third quarter, the USA only led Japan by six points. But with the help of Taurasi, the Americans went on to outscore their opponent 25-9 the rest of the period. The Mercury guard dropped seven of her team-high 19 points in the third. For the game, Taurasi hit 7-of-11 shots, including 5-of-8 from three-point range, to go along with three rebounds and one steal.

Brittney Griner: Add three more blocked shots to Griner’s Rio-leading total. She now has 11 for the tournament. Griner also pitched in six points and seven rebounds in 13 and a half minutes of playing time.

Sonja Petrovic: Serbia pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament so far by downing the Australians, who were widely expected to win a sixth-straight medal in the event. The game featured 13 lead changes and 10 ties before ultimately ending 73-71 in favor of Serbia, which is competing in the Olympics for the first time. Petrovic injured her shoulder at the end of the first half, but returned for the second half with it taped up. She scored the most crucial two points of her 13-point outing in the final minute to put her country ahead, 70-67. One possession later, Petrovic assisted on Serbia’s final bucket of the game. She recorded five assists, four rebounds and two steals in total.

Marta Xargay: Coming off the bench, Xargay played nearly 14 minutes and connected on 4-of-9 field-goal attempts for eight points. She also had the highest plus-minus of any player on her team, with Spain outscoring Turkey by 11 when she was on the court. The game came down to the buzzer, as Anna Cruz drained a floater as the clock hit zeroes to send Spain to its first semifinal appearance with a dramatic, 64-62 victory.

Penny Taylor: The two-time silver medalist’s Olympic career likely came to an end with Australia’s upset loss. The 35-year-old had a frustrating day shooting, as she missed all seven of her shots from the field. She did, however, lead the team with nine assists and also added three steals and two rebounds to go along with her two points.