Huge disappointment for Turkey

Serbia shocked Australia with an upset victory in the first quarter-final today.

Then Turkey was well on their way to the second upset of the day. They held a modest lead over Spain for most of the game and were up by eight points, 58-50, with four minutes left to play.

Spain turned up the heat, tied the game at 60-60 with a minute to go, and took their first lead of the fourth quarter with 0:36 left. Turkey missed a shot, then tied the game again with a steal and a layup by Lara Sanders.

With 4.3 seconds left, Spain's Anna Cruz tore down the court. Turkey had fouls to give, but didn't manage to get their hands on her and she sank a buzzer-beater that won the game 64-62. (One-tenth of a second less than Jeanette's historic last play vs Xavier in the 2010 NCAA quarter-finals.)

So Spain advances to a semi-final against Serbia and Turkey goes home, sadly without the medal they were so determined to get.

More:

• Game report: Cruz buzzer-beater sends Spain through to first-ever Olympic Semi-Final
  
• Statistics
  
• Photos
  

And so ends this chapter of "Stanford in the Olympics". I'll be back with the next chapter in 2020 when Nneka will surely be playing for Team USA — along with Chiney, dare we hope?

Next up: Quarter-finals at 10:30 am

Turkey will play Spain in the Quarter-finals on Tuesday, August 16.

FIBA and NBC agree that game time is 10:30 am PT. Watch on NBC basketball channel OLYBKHD or live stream.

Statistics heavily favor Spain, which went 4-1 in the preliminary round, losing only to the USA. Here is a comparison of the two teams.

Turkey will have to play their very best to achieve their dream of medalling.

Isil Alben says,"Our goal always was and still is to win a medal."

Seb says, "Could not be more proud to be a part of this team! Hope to keep it going during the quarter finals!"

Turkey 79, Brazil 76

Brazil came out blazing, determined to get their first victory of the tournament. They went on a 13-0 run in the last seven minutes of the first quarter, which ended with Brazil leading by seven points, 15-8.

Brazil continued the assault in the second quarter with a 16-0 run and doubled their lead to 36-20.

Turkey finally made some headway in the third quarter. They ended the quarter on a 16-4 run that reduced Brazil's lead to six points, 47-41.

Turkey tied the score at 48-48 four minutes into the fourth quarter. Seb gave them their first lead a minute later with her third three-pointer of the day. She hit another one from the same spot, deep in the corner, on Turkey's next possession.

Brazil didn't give up. They tied the score at 60-60 with 0:47 to go. After a missed shot, a steal, and a turnover, the game went into overtime.

Turkey was down by five with 1:02 left in overtime. Then Turkey made a three-pointer, a poke and steal, and a two-pointer. Brazil turned the ball over with a shot clock violation on the next possession, but Turkey's shot bounced out — on to second overtime.

The two teams traded a one-to-three point lead in second overtime. Turkey had the last one. They won 79-76.

More:

• Game report: Turkey outlast Brazil in double OT for third win in a row
  
• Statistics
  
• Photos
  

Japan upset France 79-71 in the final Group A game of the preliminary round. That game left France, Japan and Turkey in a three-way tie at 3-2 behind Australia (5-0). No one of them had beat the other two, so the tie break came down to their point differential. France with +8 is the the No. 2 seed, Turkey with -2 is No. 3, and Japan with -6 is No. 4.

The pairings for the quarter-finals will not be completely determined until Group B finishes its preliminary round tomorrow. But Australia will play B4 (China), France will play B3 (Canada or Spain), Turkey will play B2 (Canada or Spain), and Japan will play B1 (the USA).

Turkey made their first Olympics appearance in 2012 and lost to Russia in the quarter-final. They are determined to win a medal this time. With today's results , their chance has improved from virtually impossible to pretty good.

Turkey 74, Belarus 71

Turkey and Belarus played a very close-fought game today in their effort to earn a place in the quarter-finals. The biggest lead for either team was eight points.

Belarus was ahead for most of the first two and a half quarters. Then the momentum changed and Turkey crept ahead while Belarus slipped back.

An 8-2 run by Turkey tied the score at 48-48 with three minutes left in the third quarter. The lead changed a couple of time and then Seb sank a three-pointer with one minute left in the quarter to put Turkey ahead 55-52.

Turkey held on to their lead for the rest of the game and won 74-71.

Seb had her best game of the tournament so far. She played for 31 minutes and made two of Turkey's five three-pointers.

There are two more Group A games left to play today: Australia (3-0) vs Japan (2-1) & France (2-1) vs Brazil (0-3). Today's victory puts Turkey at 2-2, and they will end the day among the top 4.

There's just one round of group play left in which Turkey will play Brazil, who has lost all three of their games with a cumulative margin of -36. Turkey is virtually assured of advancing to the quarter-finals and has a good chance of avoiding the USA in the first round.

More:

• Game report: Yilmaz and Sanders lead Turkey to key win over Belarus
  
• Statistics
  
• Photos
  

Next: Turkey vs Brazil on Saturday August 13 at 11:30 am PT. Watch on NBC basketball channel OLYBKHD (maybe — they didn't broadcast today's game live) or live stream.

Turkey 76, Japan 62

Turkey was in great form this afternoon. Their strong defense almost took Japan out of the game, and they led 24-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Japan rallied a bit and finally began to find the basket about halfway into the second quarter.

Japan came out strong after the halftime break and cut the margin to eight points midway through the fourth quarter. But Turkey kept up its attack and held on to their lead and ended with a 76-62 victory.

Lara Sanders was almost unstoppable. She scored 36 points on 14 of 18 from the field and 8 of 9 from the free throw line. (Sanders, who goes by the name LaToya in the United States, has played basketball in Turkey for seven seasons since graduating from North Carolina.)

Seb played fifteen minutes of good defense and sank one of Turkey's six three-pointers.

More:

• Game report: Sanders puts on clinic, lifts Turkey to maiden victory
  
• Statistics
  
• Photos
  

Next: Turkey vs Belarus on Thursday August 11 at 8:15 am PT. Belarus currently stands at 4th in Group A, and Turkey is 5th, so this is pretty much a must-win game for both teams. Watch it on NBC basketball channel OLYBKHD or live stream.

Turkey 39, France 55

Turkey started strongly and led by eight points at the end of the first quarter. But France recovered and started to find their rhythm and knock down their shots. The score was tied at 35 a couple of minutes before the end of the third quarter. Turkey struggled to get shots in the final quarter and lost 39-55.

Seb played strong defense for 16 minutes but managed to get off only five shots, none of which connected.

More:

• Game report: France beats Turkey in opening game of women's basketball tournament
  
• Statistics
  
• Photos
  
• Full game video
  

Next: Turkey vs Australia on Sunday August 7 at 1:30 pm PT. Watch on NBC basketball channel OLYBKHD or live stream.

Seb is proud to represent Turkey in Rio

Sebnem Kimyacioglu hopes to bring a sense of pride to Turkey in Rio Olympics

By Sebnem Kimyacioglu, as told to Michelle Smith

After watching Turkey fight back from a terrorist attack and failed military coup, ex-Stanford guard Sebnem Kimyacioglu feels a heightened sense of responsibility to represent the nation in Rio. Read more ...

Just two days to go!

2 days to go! #RoadToRio #HaydiKizlar #Olympics pic.twitter.com/LtlgcLfOEr

— Sebnem Kimyacioglu (@MissSebnem) August 3, 2016

Turkey begins its quest for an Olympic medal on Saturday morning at 8:00am PT against France. All of the Olympic women's basketball games will be fully broadcast by NBC on specialty channel OLYBKHD and streamed live here.

Turkey's starting point guard Isil Alben is not going to be happy if Turkey can't win a medal: Alben looking for Turkey success at Rio Olympics

France suffered a severe blow yesterday when its starting point guard Celine Dumerc injured her ankle during a training session. Dumerc, who averaged 9.3 points and 4.2 assists per game with her club team last season, has been ruled out of the competition: Ankle injury rules Dumerc out of Rio Games, Bouderra steps in

On the road to Rio!

Seb and her teammates are en route from Istanbul to Rio today.

The team was interviewed after their last practice at home. This is what Seb had to say [google translation]:

Şebnem Kimyacıoğlu: "From the first match Everything I believe to be very good"

"We had a very long and intensive preparation period. To see light at the end of the tunnel in certain moments, we feel that we are too far away. Finally, now that the time has come, at the end of watches us go to Rio.

At the moment I can not express my excitement. to be representing my country, to be able to reflect on the field as a team, our work so far ... I believe in my team. I feel we can achieve good things there.

In particular, we made a serious condition install our second camp. As a result, we will have a very busy day in Rio traffic. A study mainly focused on the process of thinking about this condition and have gained significantly in strength. Of course, this in the work of recent fatigue comes out, but I think we have over our state.

Physical situation is out of our right to the top, we're going to a very nice time in Rio. From the first day I believe everything will be very good. "

This is Turkey's schedule in the group phase (Pacific Time):

• Sat Aug 6, 8:00 am, vs France
  
• Sun Aug 7, 1:30 pm, vs Australia
  
• Tue Aug 9, 1:45 pm, vs Japan
  
• Thu Aug 11, 8:15 am, vs Belarus
  
• Sat Aug13, 11:30 am, vs Brazil,
  

The top four teams in each of two groups (USA is in the other one) will advance to the quarter-finals on Tue Aug 16.

Here is the complete schedule of the women's basketball games with the times in your local time.

I don't expect that Turkish women's basketball games will be shown on American TV, but NBC is providing a live stream of all the action. You can find the links here, day by day.

20 years later — USA Basketball