Team USA had no trouble defeating a Maiga-Ba-less Mali. Playing in their first Olympics, the African champs led 8-7 early on, but it was all American after that. Leslie dominated with 16.

From the Team USA sidelines, Voepel has been watching Tina Thompson. How does she feel about the supposedly-impending sale of her WNBA team? "I'm not worried," she says. "The Comets are an institution and somebody will buy them." Houston mayor Bill White has started trying to find such a purchaser, stat.

In other Beijing action, Australia surprised nobody by thrashing Korea. "Our bigs did a good job of getting out and running," said Penny Taylor; "Harrower did a great job of getting them the ball."

Latvia surprised us by edging Brazil. Anete Jekabsone-Zogota scored the game-winner with less than three seconds to play. "I took it too early," she said, "but fortunately we won."

The Latvians face Australia's Opals today; Team USA has a slightly bigger challenge from Spain.