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Saturday, September 2
Swoopes helps U.S. avenge earlier loss
Associated Press
HONOLULU -- Sheryl Swoopes fit right in with her new
teammates.
Fresh off helping the Houston Comets win their fourth straight
WNBA title, Swoopes joined the U.S. Olympic women's basketball team
for its game with Brazil and led the Americans to a 75-53 victory
Saturday in a key tuneup for the Sydney Games.
Swoopes, the WNBA's regular season MVP, had 18 points and six
rebounds. Lisa Leslie added 15 points, and Yolanda Griffith 13.
The United States trailed early, but turned to a tight
man-to-man defense in the second half and pulled away to make
amends for one of only two losses in the past year.
Brazil, runner-up to the United States at the 1996 Atlanta
Olympics, surprised the Americans 64-55 at home in March. The U.S.
squad's only other defeat in 35 games dating to last September was
to Tennessee.
After playing a college all-star team Sunday, the United States
then has four exhibition games in Australia before it opens defense
of its Olympic title Sept. 16 against South Korea.
The victory was U.S. coach Nell Fortner's 88th, making her the
national team's winningest coach ever. Tara VanDerveer had 87 wins.
Brazil went ahead 15-10 about six minutes into Saturday's game,
and the two teams traded the lead for much of the first half. The
score was 31-31 with 3:23 left before the break, but Swoopes closed
the half with six straight points for a 37-31 U.S. lead.
She also had six points in a 19-5 run to start the second half.
The United States went up by as many as 24 points.
Brazil was led by Janeth Arcain's 14 points, but she had to sit
out a good part of the second half after picking up her fourth foul
a minute into the period.
The U.S. defense was impressive after halftime, limiting the
South Americans to 8-of-22 shooting and forcing 17 turnovers.
The United States made 33 of 59 field goals for the game.
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