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Saturday, August 26
Griffith has big first half for U.S. women
Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Yolanda Griffith said the U.S. Olympic
women's basketball team had a goal for Saturday night's game
against Canada.
"Forty minutes of intense basketball, not letting up," she
said, turning to teammate Teresa Edwards.
"Did we do it?" Griffith asked.
Edwards wrinkled her nose. The game was lopsided, with the U.S.
team easily outscoring Canada 90-51.
Griffith had 23 points and nine rebounds and Ruthie
Bolton-Holifield added 17 points in the U.S. team's third victory
over Canada in a week.
Canada was led by Dianne Norman and Stacey Dales, who each
scored 12 points.
It was Edwards' 200th career game for USA Basketball. When she
travels to Sydney, it will be her fifth Olympics. With three gold
medals and one bronze, Edwards is the most decorated basketball
player in Olympic history.
The U.S. team dominated Canada earlier this week in two games in
Texas. The United States won 81-40 Tuesday in San Antonio, and
70-31 Wednesday in Dallas.
Despite the dominance, U.S. coach Nell Fortner said there's room
for improvement -- no disrespect to Canada.
"There's definitely work to be done," she said. "When we play
Brazil or we play France -- it will be a different ballgame."
Griffith scored 15 points as the United States took a 46-25 lead
into the break. Griffith gave the U.S. team its biggest margin of
the half, 30-12, on a pair of free throws with 7:33 to go.
Canada narrowed it to 38-25 on Dales' 3-pointer with just over
two minutes to go in the half, but the Unites States scored the
next eight points -- capped by Bolton-Holifield's running layup as
the clock ran down.
The U.S. team put it out of reach in the second half, punctuated
by Nikki McCray's layup on a perfect pass from Dawn Staley with
1:56 left for a 86-46 lead.
The U.S. team will be joined next week in Hawaii by Sheryl
Swoopes, who scored 31 points Saturday in the Houston Comets' 79-73
victory over the New York Liberty for the WNBA championship.
Swoopes finished the season as the league's MVP and leading
scorer.
The game in Oakland marked the return of Lisa Leslie and DeLisha
Milton, who played for the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks
were defeated by the Comets in the Western Conference finals.
Leslie got a rousing round of applause from the crowd at the
Oakland Arena when she came in about eight minutes into the first
half.
She immediately had an impact, with a layup at 12:03 and a
smooth pass to Chamique Holdsclaw for another basket to put the
U.S. team up 20-9 midway through the half. Leslie finished with
eight points.
The loudest crowd reaction came in the second half when a mascot
for the Golden State Warriors threw a ball into the seats -- and a
representative for USA Basketball showed up to take it back from
the toddler who had it because it was a game ball.
The action was overwhelmingly booed by the crowd -- and USA
Basketball presented the girl with a new ball and team jersey.
The U.S. team will play Brazil in Oahu on Saturday.
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