RIO DE JANEIRO -- In back-to-back games, the U.S. women were within range of upset wins over Australia and New Zealand, the two leading contenders for the first rugby sevens gold medal ever awarded at the Olympics.By the end of an eventful Sunday, though, the semifinal pairings reflected the status quo in womens sevens with the top four teams in the world series vying for medals.World series winner Australia rebounded from a surprising 12-12 draw with the United States in the last game of the pool stage to trounce Spain 24-0 and set up a semifinal match against Canada, which rallied to beat France 15-5 in the quarterfinals.Britain advanced 26-7 over Fiji and then watched as semifinal opponent New Zealand struggled to put away the Americans 5-0, the only points coming from a try by world series try-scoring leader Portia Woodman just before halftime.I told them that they were true Olympians. They represented USA really, really well, U.S. womens coach Richie Walker said of his squad. We played the No. 1 and No. 2 nations in the world today but I saw no fear. We hung with the best in the world. We drew with the No. 1 and we just lost by five points to the No. 2.The Americans lost 12-7 to Fiji in their opening game Saturday, adding to the pressure on them in the last Pool A match to beat Australia on Sunday. Winger Jessica Jevelet scored two tries to give the Americans a 12-5 lead going into the last minute, but Emma Tonegato reached over to score her second try of the match for the Aussies and Chloe Dalton converted after the full-time siren for a draw.Jevelet was again in the thick of it against New Zealand. The Americans had a scoring opportunity shut down with three minutes to go when Jevelet was tackled late as she attempted to chase a kick into the in-goal that could have leveled the game. Tylia Nathan-Wong was yellow carded and sent from the field, but the New Zealanders survived unscathed.The U.S. and New Zealand squads played practice matches against each other in Florida leading up to the Olympics, and the Americans obviously picked up some intel.They didnt play us this hard in Florida. It was a nice surprise, and hard, Woodman said. We made it hard for ourselves, not playing to our strengths, getting a bit too ahead of ourselves, and wanting to score on the first phase when we needed to play three or four.But were in medal contention, so (were) excited.The Americans will have to settle for playing in classification matches for fifth-eighth places along with the other quarterfinal losers.It probably hurts right now because theyre out of medal contention, but still we have something to fight for, Walker said. We want to finish No. 5.Thats the best day rugby-wise, not results-wise, that Ive ever seen from the girls. So Im really proud.Australia coach Tim Walsh said the Americans gave his team the kick up the pants that we needed going into the quarterfinals, where Charlotte Caslick scored twice and Tonegato added another to each increase their tournament tallies to six, equal with Woodman.The top three teams from the sevens world series appeared more vulnerable on Sunday than Britain, a team containing 11 members of the England team which placed fourth in the world series. The British won all three group games comfortably, including a 24-0 victory over Canada, and outscored Fiji four tries to one.The Canadians entered as the likely bronze medalists, but now face Australia in the semifinals -- which doesnt entirely bother them. Canada beat the Australians to win the last stop on the world series last season and nudge ahead of England for third place.The Olympics are a whole new thing for us and were still kind of getting used to that, Canada back Bianca Farella said. 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Macura made with 1.7 seconds left wont show up in any boxscore, and certainly wont appear in any highlight video.But it helped No. 11 Xavier escape and remain unbeaten.Edmond Sumners free throw with 0.3 seconds left in overtime gave the Musketeers an 83-82 win over Missouri in the opening round of the Tire Pros Invitational on Thursday. He was fouled after Xavier inbounded near midcourt, after a heady timeout that Macura called to give his team a chance to set something up at the end.He understands time and score and puts himself in positions to make hustle plays and plays that determine the outcome of a game, Xavier coach Chris Mack said. It doesnt surprise me that he had presence of mind to call timeout that quickly.Sumner was fouled by Missouris Terrence Phillips as both went for the ball along the sideline on the deciding play. He missed the first one short, then rattled in the second for the win.I decided to call timeout because I didnt want us to just fire up a halfcourt shot, Macura said. I thought wed have better chances of making a shot if we got a timeout.He was right, and the Musketeers -- who won a tournament at the Disney complex last year -- are now in the semifinals of this event. Sumner and Macura each scored 19 points for Xavier, which got 13 apiece from Trevon Bluiett and Sean OMara.Frankie Hughes scored 24 points for Missouri (1-1), and Kevin Puryear finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Phillips scored seven of his 21 points in overtime for Missouri, which never got off a desperation shot after Sumners deciding free throw.I think he was just being aggressive, Missouri coach Kim Anderson said. Im sure hed love to take it back, but you know what? He made a lot of great plays to get us to where wwe were, so if it wasnt for that it wouldnt come down to that play.ddddddddddddissouri led by 10 in the first half and held the lead most of the second half, but needed to scramble both late in regulation and then from an early five-point deficit in overtime. Missouri went on a 7-0 run late to grab the lead, but Macura made two free throws with 17.8 seconds remaining to tie the game for the 15th and final time.A great basketball game, first of all, Anderson said. I thought our guys did a lot of great things and played one of the top 10 or 15 teams in the country toe-to-toe.BIG PICTUREXavier: It was the second time in three games that the Musketeers were put to the test -- they beat Lehigh 84-81 to open the season last week. ... Xavier missed its last 12 3-pointers, shooting 2 for 22 in the game from long range.Missouri: Hughes is averaging 23.5 points after two games. Only 10 Missouri players have managed to go their entire freshman season averaging more than 10 points. ... The Tigers were outrebounded 52-39.HELLO, AGAINThis is the third straight season that Xavier and Missouri have played.Xavier won 74-58 at Missouri on Dec. 13, 2014, in the start of what was going to be a two-game series, and prevailed again at home 78-66 exactly one year before this meeting -- Nov. 17, 2015.Missouri will be in that position with another non-conference foe later this season, when it meets Arizona for the third consecutive year.UP NEXTXavier: Faces Clemson in the tournament semifinals Friday.Missouri: Faces Davidson in the consolation semifinals Friday.---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 ' ' '