(Guru's Note: Here's the Associated Press story off the Olympic team's exhibition opener.which is now being updated later Sunday night with some quotes provided via USA Basketball email..)
By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Sports Writer
HAINING, China — Sylvia Fowles scored eight of her 13 points during a
late fourth-quarter run to lead the Americans to a 84-74 victory over
pesky Latvia on Sunday night in the FIBA Diamond Ball tournament — a
tuneup for the Olympics.
Unlike past U.S. women’s basketball teams, this group has not had much
playing time together due to injuries, overseas commitments, and the WNBA
season. They were only able to start training for the first time together
last Monday and are still working on developing chemistry on the court.
At times the U.S. players looked to be in total harmony, scoring at
will and containing Latvia. At other times, the Americans struggled,
turniog the ball over and missing defensive assignments that led to easy
baskets.
"For the most part, I think we started the game out with a lot of energy and it kind of died down in the second quarter until halftime," said Fowles. "We were just playing sluggish. We picked it up finally, but I think our defense needs to get much, much better. We need to keep our energy throughout the whole game."
Anete Jekabsone scored 24 points to lead Latvia.
The Americans struggled early defensively as Latvia went up 12-7 in
the first few minutes. Then the U.S. got going with a 24-6 run to close
the quarter. Diana Taurasi scored all seven of her points during the
spurt, including a nifty drive to the basket for a three-point play.
"I'm really pleased for our first time out that we got this win against a very good team," said USA head coachAnne Donovan, a three-time Olympian. "We did know coming in that Latvia was going to be a very good opponent having watched them beat Russia last night and having seen them play in the Olympic qualifier. We can play better, and we tend to play better as we go, but we certainly got all we could handle from Latvia."
Latvia battled back behind Jekabsone and Zane Tamane. Jekabsone, who
scored 34 points in Latvia’s opening win over Russia, hit two 3s late in
the second period to get Latvia within 43-36 with 1:20 left. The U.S. led
by nine at the half, but had a scare when Candace Parker injured her right
shoulder right before the break. She didn’t play in the second half.
Latvia hung tough in the second half behind Jekabsone. After leading
by nine at the half, the U.S. couldn’t put Latvia away. Jekabsone’s
3-pointer early in the fourth quarter pulled Latvia within 71-67 before
the U.S. went on a!13-3 run to finally put the game away. Fowles had two
layups and two putbacks during the spurt.
Tamane added 12 and Ieva Kublina had 10 for Latvia.
Tina Thompson finished with 12 points for the U.S. Sue Bird and
Seimone Augustus each added 11.
Up next for the U.S. is a matchup with Becky Hammon and her Russian
teammates Monday night. Latvia beat Russia 75-69 in its opening game.
Australia beat China 84-70 in the first game Sunday.
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