Candace Parker on fire as US women lead France 37-25 at halftime in the Gold Medal game – London Olympics Women Basketball
Candace Parker erupted with 15 points and 9 rebounds inside the first 20 minutes of the Gold medal game as USA took an imposing 37-25 lead.
Sandrine Gruda opened the scoring inside the first 20 seconds to give France a 2 point lead, but that was quickly neutralized on a Diana Taurasi three pointer. Dumerc missed a long range shot on the next French offensive visit and Tina Charles capitalized by slipping in a deuce to make it 5-2.
The Americans continued to lead, but after coming within a point thrice, France finally reclaimed the lead, 13-11, on a three pointer by Edwige Lawson- Wade. USA however made a strong run in the closing minutes of the first frame, finishing it with a 9-2 burst to take a 20-15 lead into the second quarter.
Seimone Augustus made a two point shot to quickly increase the lead to seven, but 4 consecutive points, two rebounds and a steal by Gruda in the following couple of minutes ensured that France closed in at 22-19.
Candice Parker and Dumerc exchange deuces after that, but 4 straight points for team USA ensured a 28-21 lead with 6:20 to go in the half.
Both teams went scoreless for nearly two minutes before Miyem scored a two to make it a five point game. However, Parker again stood in France’s way and scored 6 consecutive points to take the lead into double figures – 34-23 with 2:38 left on the clock.
Entering the last minute of the half, Sylvia Fowles scored a deuce to increase the lead to 13 points, which increased by one after Parker split her pair of free throws with 52 second remaining.
The French scoring drought finally ended in the last 40 seconds of the first half, when Sue Bird committed a personal foul to send Lawson on the stripe. She converted both her attempts to make it 37-25 and that was how it ended.
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