Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Thursday, September 27, 2007

Well, that's more like it... Yes, it was Jamaica, but it's nice to be able to get the cobwebs out, regain the shooting touch, share the ball, and rest a bit. All of which the US got to do en route to a 115-47 win. Five players in double figures, some nice pictures, and some nice quotes. Said Donovan:
The big thing is when you play a team like Jamaica, the tendency could be to take them lightly or to let up at some point in the game. But I was really pleased that we didn't. In the second quarter we gave up 17 points. Other than that, defensively we really stayed after it from start to finish. Everybody got to play and everybody did very, very well. You look at our bench statistics and they're right in there helping us shoot 60 percent from the floor. There were a lot of good things on both end of the floor tonight.
Highlights? Cappie played more that 2 minutes, and though all her points (6) were on free throws, I'm adding an extra point for each of her assists: 9. In 20 minutes. Augustus said lah-dee-dah to her shoulder and was perfect from the field (8-8, 3-3 FTs). And Lawson said, "Look at me, I can shoot (4-7), dish (8 assists), and steal (5). (As an A-student, I'm sure Kara will understand if I suddenly flashed on Eats Shoots and Leaves).

Says Kym:
The Americans looked much better out on the court today, but I would attribute a lot of that to being more mentally prepared to play. These players all know that when you put that USA uniform on, you have a lot of history and tradition to uphold. They know what that uniform stands for. So they came into this game thinking, "C'mon, we can't allow this to happen again. Yesterday, we pulled out a tough win, but there's no reason we should find ourselves in that situation." I think their success had a lot more to do with their mental approach than changing something tactically on the court.
Looks like Oscar made the trip and he's focused on the nice things people are saying about Seimone.
"I'm so proud of Seimone," Donovan said. "She knew coming in the one area she had to improve on was defensively. Losing Catchings gave her an opportunity in our rotation. From day one in training camp she has worked hard at being a defender for us.
Hey, O, take it from one who knows: I recommend the lamb, asparagus and red wine. When I was there back in the day... WAY back in the day... Concha y Toro was the "it" place.

Next up? Les Canadiens! No Sutton-Brown (Rutgers) or Dales (Oklahoma), but Kim Smith (Utah) is there, as is Lizanne Murphy (Hofstra), Amanda Brown (Penn State) and Chelsea Aubry (Nebraska).

Looks to be a 4:00pm start, but don't every trust me on times. NBAtv'll probably rebroadcast the Jamaica game -- the Cuba replay went at 4am.