GUADALAJARA, Mexico — The U.S. women's basketball team came to the Pan American Games as the defending champion. It leaves as the seventh-place finisher among eight teams.
The Americans routed Jamaica 87-41 Monday for a second straight victory. But that was small consolation for a team that usually plays for a medal, and often gold at that.
The women lost to Argentina 58-55 in their first game and then fell to Puerto Rico 75-70. Despite beating Mexico 87-58, the Americans wound up last in the four-team group and had to play for seventh place.
"Nobody likes to lose games by one or three points," said U.S. forward Breanna Stewart, a 17-year-old high school student. "We all played well. Unfortunately, the results came in the final minutes and luck did not favor us."
The Americans brought an inexperienced team to Guadalajara and practiced only five times before the tournament opened.
"We have different styles of playing," Stewart said. "We had trouble adapting to a single style of playing despite the good rapport we had from the beginning."
In the only early gold medal of the day, Yuderquis Contreras of the Dominican Republic won the 117-pound division in women's weightlifting. Sixteen more gold medals were at stake on Day 10, including five in track and field.
In other sports, defending champion Cuba was playing the U.S. in the baseball semifinals. Canada and Mexico are in the other semifinal.
Track and field resumed Monday with the women's pole vault, hammer and 10,000 meters, and the men's discus and 5,000. Fabiana Murer, the world pole vault champion from Brazil, is the favorite in her event at Telmex Athletics Stadium.
Bowling began Monday, with medals in men's and women's events on Tuesday.