By Mel Greenberg
Sylvia Fowles' "monster" game led the United States into the victory column Sunday with a 92-60 victory over Cuba in the Good Luck Beijing Tournament in China.
Full details are over at the USA Basketball site, but, essentially, the former LSU star and second overall WNBA draft pick of the Chicago Sky towered over the Cubans with 25 points, 18 rebounds and six blocked shots.
Fowles had not played much in the opening loss to Australia, Saturday, because of foul trouble.
The Detroit Shock's Katie Smith added 19 points, while new Seattle Storm player Swin Cash, an Olympic veteran as is Smith, scored 12 points. The United States also got 10 points each from Los Angeles Sparks and Olympics veteran Lisa Leslie, along with former Maryland star Crystal Langhorne, the sixth overall WNBA pick by the Washington Mystics.
Cuba and the United States are each 1-1.
By the time most of you are reading this, the USA squad will have played South Korea in a game that was scheduled to tip off at 2:30 a..m., early Monday morning, EDT.
"I'm really pleased with how we came out today, we started the game really well," said USA head coach Anne Donovan. "It was our focus to start the game very strong and aggressive. We felt like we needed to come right at Cuba and attack them early and we executed that game plan very well.
"I think Sylvia was extra motivated today since she wasn't on the floor very much yesterday due to foul trouble. She came out and had a monster game and Lisa (Leslie) came out and took a smaller role today. It's nice to see the versatility of our players."
Fowles said she was "more focused" in her second outing.
The squad is a youthful group with such Olympic favorites to make the team as Phoenix's Diana Taurasi and potentially Cappie Pondexter, not on the trip. The Los Angeles Sparks' overall top pick Candace Parker of the Tennessee two-time defending NCAA champs is also away from China.
After South Korea, the U.S. takes a day off in preliminary action before meeting New Zealand on Wednesday (10:15 a.m. EDT) and hot China China on Thursday (8:00 a.m. EDT).
Connecticut double: The Guru is taking a quickie trip North on Monday and Tuesday to drop by the WNBA Connecticut Sun's Media Day followed by a visit to UConn for women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma's wrap-up media session.
Besides the array of players with UConn backgrounds who are in camp such as Barbara Turner, rookie Ketia Swanier, and Tanika (nee Williams) Raymond, two former Big Five players will be in Sun camp. One is former Temple star Kamesha Hairston, who was a first-round draft pick a year ago. The other is Villanova departing senior Stacie Witman, who has been signed as a practice player.
Head coach Mike Thibault, an assistant on the USA national squad under Donovan, is stateside and will be at the Connecticut College facility Monday.
-- Mel
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