Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Wednesday, September 20, 2006

The World Championship semi-finals are all set.

After an agita-causing first quarter that ended with the US holiding a one point margin over Lithuania, 27-26, the US regained its form and powered to a 90-56 win. Led by Candace Parker's 18 points and Tina Thompson's 15, the US win means they will face Russia, which defeated Spain 60-56, on Thursday. The two teams met earlier in the tournament, the US emerging a 90-80 victor.

As always, the USABasketball provides game photos, the box score, additional post-game quotes, as well as press conference audio. Tonight's audio features Anne Donovan and Katie Smith, as well as Lithuania's coach Algirdas Paulauskas and 16-year-old Aurime Rinkeviciute. (As a side note, though only 16, Aurime is not the youngest player in the tourney. That distinction goes to Canadian Kelsey Adrian.)

In the other half of the bracket, Australia handled France with relative ease, 79-66. Their semi-final opponent will be Brazil, who overwhelmed the Czech Republic 75-51.

Random note of interest: the wnba.com AP game report was longer than that of the current target-o'my-wrath, the New York Times. The .com also offers a photo gallery from the game.