take control. With the U.S. leading 41-39, the Americans posted a 9-0 run to push its advantage to 50-39 and when the third quarter was completed the USA owned a 52-41 lead. The USA opened its largest lead of
the game, 16 points, with 7:36 left in the final stanza and went on to its 72-66 win.
USA 99, China 75 The United States took a double-
digit lead six minutes into the first quar- ter and pulled away from China for an overwhelming 51-24 halftime advantage before easing up in the second half for a 99-75 victory. Never trailing, the U.S. women
jumped to a 6-0 lead as China missed its first five attempts. With the USA up 14-8, the USA posted a 13-2 spurt that closed the opening stanza with the red, white and blue on top 27-10. “I thought we played better than we
did yesterday,” said Auriemma. “Our offense, we got into some transition stuff. We made shots, which we didn’t do yester- day at the beginning of the game. We had a really good flow. We got contributions from a lot of people. I thought that first half was about as well as we’ve played. Nneka Ogwumike recorded a game
high 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, Lavender finished with 14 points, and Augustus and Charles were the only other USA players in double digits with 10 points apiece. Sims and Whalen dished out five assists each, while Charles, Dupree and Lavender recoded five rebounds each. China scored the first two baskets of
the second quarter, but a 15-2 run took the wind out of China’s sails, and put the Americans well in control of the game, 42-16. By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, the USA led 51-24. China, behind 4-of-5 shooting from
3-point, outscored the USA 20-18 in the third quarter, but it was too little too late as the Americans regrouped defensively and outscored China 30-23 in the fourth quarter for the 99-75 victory.
France 76, USA 72 After leading by as many as 18
points, the U.S. fell to a resilient France team that battled its way back to take a 76-72 decision in the 2014 France International Tournament.
50
Another promising player in USA Basketball’s next wave of talent, Nneka Ogwumike averaged 7.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in her first FIBA World Championship experience.
“We talked to the players about how
difficult all this is going to be,” said Auriemma. “Sometimes maybe we think this is going to be easy, but it’s not going to be easy. It’s not easy to beat a really good team on their home floor if you don’t shoot the ball well, if you don’t make shots. The way we started in the first quarter, I thought we started the right way. Our defense was really good. Our offense was going. And then when we got into a little bit of a lull, France and Sandrine (Gruda) especially, they just made shots. They deserved to win tonight. No question about that.” With the USA trailing 71-67 and
26.4 seconds left in the game, Moore sank her first 3-pointer in the contest at 17.8 seconds to make it 71-70. As the USA fouled to stop the clock,
France made two free throws, and then Taurasi made two free throws at 15.0 seconds to again pull the USA within one point, 73-72. The USA again fouled at 9.4 seconds, trying to play catch up. France made the first free throw and missed the second attempt, but secured a critical rebound to run precious seconds
off the clock. The USA fouled for the last time at 4.8 seconds, and France made both tries to secure the 76-72 win. Charles was the USA’s leading scor-
er with 12 points and seven rebounds, Moore added 11 points, and Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream), who also grabbed six rebounds, and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), who collected four steals, had 10 points apiece. “We did some good things, obvious-
ly not for long enough stretches,” Taurasi said. “And France played really well. They made plays. In the second half, they made us work on the other end, and they made big shots and we didn’t.” The U.S. defense frustrated France’s
flow to start the game with nine steals in the first quarter, and it also held France to a paltry 16.7 percent from the field (2-12 FGs.) in the first period. Scoring 10 unanswered points to
take a 16-4 lead, Candice Dupree (Phoenix Mercury) finished off the first quarter with four-straight points to give the USA a 20-6 lead at the first break. The USA grabbed its largest lead of
the game, 24-6, when Augustus scored, but France fought back, and helped by 10-of-11 shooting from the free throw line, outscored the USA 20-18 in the sec- ond as the U.S. led 38-26 at halftime. France made a run at the USA right
from the start in the second half, and buoyed by 10 points from Sandrine Gruda, who finished with 26 points and 15 rebounds, cut the USA’s lead to 46-38 with 5:49 remaining in the third. France outscored the USA 8-3 to
close the stanza and trailed by seven points, 53-46, with one quarter left to play.
It took France nearly seven minutes
to pull ahead when it scored first off of an offensive rebound at 3:43 that made it 63-62. The lead changed hands four times in the next 2:44 before France answered a 3-pointer from Bird with its second-straight 3 to make it 69-67 in its favor. The USA never again led. “I think in my experience every loss
has been a good thing,” Bird said. “It’s kind of woken us up and showed us some things that we need to work on. Usually, it plays out to our favor. I can think of literally every time I’ve lost in this USA jersey, and it’s helped us, so
USA Basketball News
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