FIBA – Women’s Day 4 Group B Round-Up

BEIJING (Olympics) - Defending gold medalists USA rolled to their fourth successive win beating EuroBasket 2007 silver medalists Spain 93-55 in the Olympic women’s basketball competition on Friday.

Hosts China, who have lost only to the USA so far, kept themselves in the race to finish second in Group B with a 69-48 win over FIBA Africa champions Mali. And former European champions Czech Republic, posted their second win in the competition, beating New Zealand 90-59.

On Sunday, the final day of the women’s preliminary round, USA take on New Zealand (1-3). Czech Republic 2-2, match wits with China (3-1) and Spain, also 2-2, take on the winless Mali.

Team USA were tested for the first time in this competition, at least for the first half of Friday’s encounter.

“When they attacked us early and went on that big run at the end of the first quarter, we knew we were in for a game,” USA coach Anne Donovan said.

“For us this is a good game, this is what we want to have hopefully before we advance,” added Donovan, a member of the USA squads that won the gold in the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Spain trailed only 34-39 at the half-time, but went basketless for the first two minutes and 19 seconds following which they went off the rails on a controversial call that damaged their chances of any serious fightback.

Anna Montanana copped a technical foul, after offering a comment on the referee for a foul earlier, and the USA leading 41-34 at that time were in for a seven-point run. USA settled for five, but the damage seemed done.

“The foul, the technical and then two turnovers, just brought us crashing down,” said Montanana.

“I told the referee that I had raised my arm and that was it, I got a technical. I don't know if he was wound up from a previous play or what but clearly the barometer is different for people,” the Perfumerias Avenida power forward said.

USA, on the other hand played some tight defense restricting Spain to merely 21 points in the second half.

Tina Thompson led the USA scoring with 17 points. Lisa Leslie pulled down 11 boards to go with her 14 points as USA won the rebound battle 44-25.

Spain coach Evaristo Perez made no excuses.

“We have seen two halves to this game to Spain,” he said.

“But we competed and when we do that, our game is a solid one. In the second half, we stopped competing and my team was weak,” Perez added.

Chinese women came up with a clinical display against Mali.

Captain Lijie Miao played true to form with a game-high 25 points as Chen Nan and Chen Xiaoli chipping in with 11 points each.

A 7-0 run late in the first quarter and an 11-0 spree in the second perched Tom Maher’s squad on top at the half-time. And an 8-0 surge – split by half on either side of the third quarter hooter – ensured China cantered along.

More than the offensive display, Maher was impressed with his wards’ defense. China forced 21 turn overs, while conceding only 11 against Mali.

“It’s a huge, a monumental leap (in defense) from where we were, from just honestly, vomiting juice in defense to playing defense that’s good,” Maher said.

“It took tears but it’s decent now. We are not (Australia international) Penny Taylors, but we are decent.”

“We need to beat Czech Republic,” the Aussie said.

Mali played again without captain Hamchetou Maiga. Djene Diawara and Aminata Sininta each had 11 points to head Mali’s scoring.

Czech Republic too played a solid game right from the start against New Zealand.

Jan Bobrovsky’s team found their saviors in Gambrinus Brno duo Hana Machova and Eva Viteckova.

Machova led the scoring for the game with 23 points, while Viteckova had 21. The two, along with Iva Vecerova (14 points) and Jana Vesela (13 points) had been a part of the Czech squad that won the 2005 EuroBasket title.

A 10-2 run midway through the first quarter provided the momentum for the Czechs to finish 26-12 ahead at the end of the first quarter. And a 17-2 spree to close the third quarter at 65-38 put the European outfit in complete command of the game.

“We will try to beat China, but they are at home,” Viteckova said. “It will be difficult.”

“I think our preparation was as good as can be, and we picked the best team,” said New Zealand coach Mike McHugh, an assistant on the team that reached the last eight of the Athens Games.

“Our lack of experience shows. We only had two players from Athens. We have a young team with an average age of 22. Their players had a pretty special game considering the way they’ve played in this tournament.”

Scores

Czech Republic 90 (Hana Machova 23, Eva Viteckova 21, Ivana Vecerova 14, Jana Vesela 13) bt New Zealand 59 (Angela Marino 22, Aneka Kerr 12). Quarterwise Scores: 26-12, 44-31, 65-38.

China 69 (Lijie Miao 25, Chen Nan 11, Chen Xiaoli 11) bt Mali 48 (Djene Diawara 11, Aminata Sininta 11). Quarterwise Scores: 17-7, 37-20, 52-35.

USA 93 (Tina Thompson 17, Lisa Leslie 14, Candace Parker 13, Diana Taurasi 12) bt Spain 55 (Amaya Valdemoro 17, Nuria Martinez 10, Anna Montanana 10)
Quarterwise Scores: 22-17, 39-34, 62-44.

FIBA