PARIS, France — Emma Meesseman, who last played in the WNBA in 2022 with Chicago and was an All-Star that year, set the tone by knocking down back-to-back 3s to open the game for Belgium.
The Belgian Cats have been on the rise lately internationally behind Meesseman. They placed seventh in the Tokyo Games, fifth at the World Cup a year later and won the EuroBasket championship last year. The Cats had never reached the Olympic quarterfinals before.
Meesseman finished with 19 points, snapping her Olympic women’s basketball record of games with at least 20 points at seven straight.
Now the Cats will have a chance at a medal despite losing point guard Julie Allemand just before the opening ceremony when she reinjured an ankle that had kept her out all season for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
They also lost center Becky Massey with six minutes left in the third. She badly rolled her right ankle and went down immediately. Spain, in a nice gesture, placed the ball out of bounds, giving it back to Belgium despite trailing 59-37 at the time.
Kyara Linskens also had 19 for Belgium. Antonia Delaere and Julie Vanloo added 13 apiece.
It was a disappointing finish for Spain with Pau Gasol, former NBA great and now International Olympic Committee member, watching courtside.
Spain won silver at the 2016 Rio Games, then finished sixth three years ago at the Tokyo Games. The Spaniards missed the 2022 World Cup, and they brought in Megan Gustafson, the 2019 AP women’s college basketball player of the year out of Iowa, last summer.
Gustafson scored 12 of her 21 points in the first quarter, including a 3 that tied it at 26 going into the second. Then the Cats outscored Spain 22-11 in the second to take control and lead 48-37 at halftime. Belgium had a 19-12 edge in the third, taking a 67-49 lead into the fourth.
Maite Cazorla added 13 for Spain.