EKATERINBURG (2010 FIBA World Championship for Women) - The United States women weren't at full strength but still had far too many weapons for the rest of the competition at the Ekaterinburg International Invitational in Russia over the weekend.
With Team USA duo Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter leading the Phoenix Mercury to the WNBA title on Friday night, the Americans still thrashed USK Prague (100-81), MKB Euroleasing Sopron (79-65) and UMMC Ekaterinburg (78-63).
Though it was only a friendly tournament, the results will have left USA Basketball feeling very good about their team ahead of the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women in the Czech Republic.
New coach Geno Auriemma missed more than just Taurasi and Pondexter for the event.
A dislocated shoulder suffered by Candace Parker on Friday kept her out of Saturday's and Sunday's games.
The Americans also had a strange situation regarding Asjha Jones, who played for them in the first two games but then had to switch teams on Sunday. She put on an Ekaterinburg jersey for the last game in the Round Robin Tournament since that is her club side in Europe.
With UMMC having won their opening two games, Sunday's clash with the USA was a battle of unbeatens and Gundars Vetra's Russian team led 33-30 with 5:45 remaining in the first half.
The USA defense then shut down the Russian giants, outscoring them 17-0 over the remainder of the second quarter for a 47-33 advantage at the break.
“It was all about the defense,” said Angel McCoughtry of the decisive spurt.
“We played good D, they were tired, we got rebounds and ran.”
Auriemma was thrilled with his team's play, particularly at the end of the first half when the USA took command.
"We’ve only played three games with this group but that was the best stretch we’ve had because our defense was really good and then we converted down at the other end," Auriemma said.
"And it wasn’t just the same person all the time converting, we were able to spread it around."
Shameka Christon, who is playing for Lotos PKO BP Gdynia this season in Poland's top flight and in the EuroLeague Women, began the third quarter by drilling two consecutive three-pointers for a 53-33 stranglehold on proceedings.
McCoughtry scored 20 points for the Americans and also came up with three of the team's 10 steals.
“We obviously haven’t been together long and sometimes it’s hard to build a chemistry,” said USA point guard Sue Bird.
“So the best thing you can do is play tough defense, rebound, run. You don’t have to set anything up, you can just play off each other and it’s very similar to pick-up basketball.
“You just go out there and utilize your talents and we were able to do that. It started on the defensive end.”
FIBA
