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RIO DE JANEIRO – Sebnem Kimyacioglu, the fifth Stanford alumna to compete in the Olympics, helped Turkey advance to the quarterfinals in the country's second appearance in women's basketball at the Games.
 
Turkey, which lost its first two games of group play, reeled off three straight wins to finish third in Group A. Its run was ended on Tuesday when Spain prevailed, 64-62, to advance to a semifinal against Serbia. Turkey took its first second-half lead with 7:39 remaining in the third quarter and led by as many as eight (58-50) with 4:18 to go, but Spain rallied and pulled even, 60-60, with 70 seconds on the clock.
 
The teams traded buckets before Spain's Anna Cruz raced up the court in 4.3 seconds and hit a buzzer-beater from just inside the arc to push her country through to its first Olympic semifinal. Turkey advanced to the quarterfinals in each of its Olympic appearances. In 2012 it finished second in its group before falling to Russia in its first knockout game, 66-63.
 
Kimyacioglu was Turkey's fifth-leading scorer, averaging 4.3 points in 22.2 minutes over the six games. She shot 40 percent from behind the 3-point line (8-of-20) and also added 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists per outing. She had her best performance against host Brazil on August 13, going for 14 points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal in 40 minutes off the bench as Turkey stormed back from 18 down to win in double overtime, 79-76.

 
Stanford has had five alumnae compete in the Olympics in addition to Hall of Fame head coach Tara VanDerveer, who guided Team USA to a 52-0 exhibition record and then to Olympic gold with a perfect 8-0 run at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Jennifer Azzi and Katy Steding won gold with that United States team in 1996 and Jillian Harmon and Clare Bodensteiner represented New Zealand in Beijing in 2008.

 
Kimyacioglu was one of 39 Stanford athletes to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics. The Cardinal contingent in Rio hailed from 10 countries and spanned 17 varsity sports. Thus far, Stanford's representatives have collected 18 medals, including nine gold, to push the school's all-time count to 261.