The women got one step closer to crowning a basketball champion in Rio, as semifinal action took place at the 2016 Summer Games on Thursday.Fresh off its shocking upset of Australia, Serbia tried to keep its Cinderella run going against Spain. The United States and France capped off the evening, with the French attempting to do what no one has so far: Get remotely close to knocking off the U.S. women.France and the U.S. were playing in a rematch of the 2012 gold-medal game from London. Neither Serbia nor Spain made it to the knockout round four years ago.All four teams will have one more game Saturday, as the losers play for bronze and winners clash to bring gold home.Here is a look at how Thursday's semifinals matchups played out.Spain 68, Serbia 54Four players scored in double figures and the Spanish defense locked down in the second half, pushing the world's third-ranked team to a 68-54 win over Serbia.Ahead by five points at halftime, Spain held Serbia to just 10 points in the third quarter to extend its lead to double digits. The Serbs wound up making just 31.3 percent of their shots overall, including a dismal 2-of-11 rate from beyond the arc. None of their starters hit more than 40 percent of their shots, and four of them made a third or less.Sasa Cado was the only Serbian player on the entire roster who made more than 40 percent of her shots. She was also the only bench player with a made field goal. Her 12 points tied withSonjaPetrovic for a team high.Alba Torrens and Astou Ndour led the way with 14 points for Spain. Laura Nicholls dominated the interior with 13 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, while Sylvia Dominguez came off the bench and scored 10 points. Spain shot 44 percent from the floor and out-rebounded Serbia 44-31.This clinches Spain's first Olympic medal in women's basketball; it had never finished better than fifth in any other Olympic appearance.ReactionNichols acknowledged it's going to be difficult to beat the U.S., per Steve Keating of Reuters: "Everyone knows we will play against the United States. It is impossible to beat them. It will be very, very complicated.But this is a final you have to see, you have play and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. I'm sorry, but you have to be realistic.The United States is a dream team and it is going to be very difficult but we will fight and, above all, enjoy ourselves.""I cannot believe we are in the final," Spain's Laura Quevedo said. "I cannot explain how we won with such a big margin after suffering so much in quarter-finals.This is history for us. We had never made it past the quarter-finals and now we are in the final."United States 86, France 67The United States didn't look like its dominant self in the first half. Luckily, there was another 20 minutes to play.Diana Taurasi scored a game-high 18 points as one of five Americans in double figures as the U.S. overcame a shaky first half to earn an 86-67 win over France.The U.S. effort was almost entirely buoyed by a 25-8 advantage in the third quarter. France trailed by just four points after a hard-fought first half and actually outscored the U.S. in the fourth. But that 10-minute stretch of two-way excellence was enough to give the favorites their seventh straight win by double figures.This is the first time the U.S. did not win a game by 30 or more points in this tournament. It's only the second time the defending gold medalists have been held under 100.So fluid through their first six games, the Americans suffered from some offensive stagnation. They assisted on only 14 of their 34 field goals, a far cry from earlier in the tournament when it seemed like every basket came via a pass.Taurasi's 18 points came despite an uncharacteristic 3-of-9 shooting performance from beyond the arc. Maya Moore (15 points),Sylvia Fowles (12 points), Brittney Griner (10 points) andSeimone Augustus (10 points) were each in double figures.While not their best effort, it's not the best sign for Spain that the U.S.'s worst performance still came in a 19-point win. The United States have brought gold home at every Olympics since 1996. The utter dominance of this team so far is a good sign we'll be looking at a similar situation come Saturday.ReactionDiana Taurasi commented on Sue Bird's absence, per Chris Hine of theChicago Tribune:It took us a while to get used to it. I had to change my mindset. When Sues out, you forget how much she does for this team. We have so many scorers that she finds a way to get everyone in their spots, to get everyone touches and she sacrifices for that.I dont think you get to where any of us are without being smart, Bird said. Im not going to be stupid about this. This is your body. You have to listen to it. You dont want to put yourself in danger, but if I can play, Im definitely playing.Weve been able to respond to whenever different things have come up, coach Geno Auriemma said. In order to be considered a great team, you have to win the whole thing, and we still have one more win to go. But I think great teams have the ability to win a lot of different ways. (Thursday) we had to win a little bit differently than we won the other six games.
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