.Brian Windhorst, ESPN Elder WriterAug 7, 2024, 05:28 PM ETCloseESPN.com NBA article writer since 2010.Dealt With Cleveland Cavs for 7 years.Author of pair of booksPARIS-- The mix of A'ja Wilson as well as Breanna Stewart has verified to become a devasting mix for the Crew USA women, relevant where there is an instance cultivating that they can share the Olympics Most Valuable Gamer Award.But there's a new duo surfacing, though certainly not an unexpected one, that's proved to become a significant boost as the Americans pursue another gold medal.Las Vegas Aces colleagues Kelsey Plum as well as Jackie Youthful have actually boosted to become difference-makers in France and participated in crucial functions in Team USA's 88-74 victory over Nigeria in the quarterfinals.It denoted the crew's 59th successive Olympic victory and sets up a semifinal competition versus Australia, winners over Serbia Wednesday, on Friday at 3 p.m. ET.Jackie Youthful completed with double-digit points for the 2nd upright game, firing 60% from the field in the United States' gain Nigeria. CAROLINE BREHMAN/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockCoach Cheryl Reeve moved Young into the beginning sequence in place of veteran Diana Taurasi versus Nigeria, a crew known for participating in high stress full-court self defense that challenges setting against guards.It was actually a reward after Youthful scored 19 points along with 4 takes off the seat in the last pool play video game against Germany. She answered with an additional great efficiency, enjoying with electricity at each points together with an additional Aces ally, Chelsea Gray, in the backcourt.Young racked up 15 factors and aided lug the united state outburst early in the game as the Americans got off to a little bit of a lethargic start by their standards.Nigeria was behind by just four aspects midway by means of the 2nd fourth. That's when Reeve visited Plum, that was actually the 12th and ultimate gamer to go into the ready the Americans. Plum promptly transformed the game with her passing and also velocity on the offending point, serving up three quick assists and nailing a 3-pointer. Plum finished with just 6 factors however her six-minute switch to end up the very first one-half resulted in a plus-11 on the scoreboard to push the cause 19 at half. The USA then started the 2nd fifty percent on a 15-0 run as well as the stress was actually created for the evening.Editor's Picks1 RelatedWilson as well as Stewart, who came into the activity balancing a matching 20.3 scores every activity, played their label of skilled bully ball. Wilson invested twenty points on 9-of-11 capturing along with 11 rebounds and also pair of blocks. Stewart had thirteen aspects on 5-of-7 shooting with five rebounds as well as three assists.Brittney Griner went over the bench to credit rating 11 points on 4-of-5 firing. Those 3 internal scorers combining for 16-of-21 is challenging to beat.The USA got in the video game balancing 29 helps and also once again put on a ball-sharing clinic through assembling 31 more.Promise Amukamara led Nigeria, which reduced the lead to as reduced as thirteen in the 4th quarter, along with 19 scores. The video game ended with a little edge when the united state's Kahleah Copper received a technological foul for tossing the ball at Nigeria's Ezinne Kalu after she racked up in the final secs.