Breanna Stewart diary: On dominance, beach volleyball, mosquitoes

Breanna Stewart, 21, is the youngest U.S. basketball player at the Rio Olympics. A  star rookie for the WNBA’s Seattle Storm and the most acclaimed college player ever of either gender after winning four NCAA titles at UConn,  she is writing about her Olympic experiences for USA TODAY with the assistance of contributor Wayne Coffey.

RIO DE JANEIRO — If you look at our three Olympic games — and our average margin of victory of 47 points — you might think it must be hard for us to stay interested.

I promise you that is not the case.

We know what’s at stake and know that it will only get harder from here, starting with our next game against Canada on Friday. Canada is undefeated, and I am not going to spend one second dwelling on the game we played with them a few weeks ago. Sure, we beat them by 40. Sure, people will probably be on social media suggesting that we’re playing the equivalent of a CYO team. But that was an exhibition game in Bridgeport, Conn.,  where both teams were still working things out, and this is the Olympic Games. The Canadians are a completely different team now. They have a completely different motivation.

We’re a very good and an insanely deep team, but the minute we take the court celebrating how good we are is when we can say goodbye to the gold medal. You can’t sleep on anybody at the Olympic Games. The Soviet hockey team was supposed to be unbeatable in Lake Placid in 1980. How did that work out?

Breanna Stewart diary: On cruise ships, traffic and chemistry

I probably had my best game so far against Serbia Wednesday, with 17 points and five rebounds in about 16 minutes of playing time. It’s an adjustment to playing half a game or less from the buzzer to buzzer minutes I play in the WNBA, but you just have to stay ready and totally tuned into the game on the bench, and when your name is called, you take the court resolved to make an impact on both ends of the floor.

It was awesome to watch Dee (Diana Taurasi) against the Serbs. She was totally on fire with five three-pointers and 22 points in the first half, and threw in one more three in the second half and surpassed her own Olympic record. She’s one of the greatest athletes ever and she just like Phelps or Ledecky, she showed why today on a global stage.

Dee, Sue Bird and I went to beach volleyball the other day. It was the first Olympic event I’ve been to, and it was the coolest atmosphere, because the American team of Brooke Sweat and Laura Fendrick were playing Brazil’s Talita Rocha and Larissa Franca, the No. 1 ranked team in the tournament. The Brazilians won and the fans went berserk (they also love to boo the Americans), but all the players showed remarkable athleticism, the way they dove and jumped all over the sand. I’m glad I play on wood.

Obviously the Zika virus has been one of the big story lines about these Games. I’m lucky in that it’s enough for me to simply take reasonable precautions. There are people who live here and are pregnant and though I’ve even seen mosquitoes everywhere, including in the gym, I just put repellent on every time I leave my “boatel” room. Even with all that effort, I noticed a bite on my leg the other day. It’s just something we are all willing to risk for the honor of representing our country and I’m just ready to bring it again for our next game.

PHOTOS: U.S. WOMEN'S TEAM