U.S. women win 6th straight gold

RIO DE JANEIRO — It’s just one of the six U.S. women’s basketball teams to win consecutive Olympic gold medals, producing 49 consecutive wins at the Games. Taurasi, one of three four-time Olympians on Team USA alongside Sue Bird and Tamika Catchings, scored 17 points and hit 5 of 7 three-point attempts Saturday, and the U.S. won the Olympic gold medal in a walk, 101-72 over Spain. Second-time Olympian Lindsay Whaley also scored 17 points, and Olympic rookies Elena Delle Donne and Brittney Griner had 10 points and seven rebounds, respectively, for the Americans, who during this remarkable 20-year run have come at opponents with generation after generation of talented, motivated stars eager to maintain the tradition with which they have been entrusted. Glancing toward Geno Auriemma, her college coach at Connecticut and architect of the current USA Basketball win streak, Taurasi said, “That man, he finds a way to put things together and make them work.” Spain, led by Alba Torrens, who scored 10 of her 18 points in the first period, tied it at 17-17 with a minute to go in the first quarter after the U.S. shot 41 percent from the field and missed 5 of 11 free throws in the first 10 minutes. [...] Tarausi, on the floor with four other of Auriemma’s former players at Connecticut, hit back-to-back three-pointers in the second quarter to give the U.S. its first double-digit lead with a 16-3 run that increased the U.S. lead to 43-27.