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USA's Gold Medal Dream Ends With 75-68 Loss To Russia
Barueri, Brazil-- Despite a game-high 21 points from Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), the 2006 USA Women's World Championship Team (7-1) fell behind early and never fully recovered as Russia (5-3) advanced to the gold medal game with a 75-68 victory on Thursday night at Ibirapuera Arean in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Australia (8-0) and Russia will compete for the gold medal on Saturday (Sept. 23) at 1:00 p.m. (all times EDT), while the United States and host Brazil (5-3) will play for bronze at 8:30 a.m. that day (originally scheduled to be played at
10:00 a.m.). The USA's final game will air live on NBA TV, with a replay to air at midnight on FSN.
"I want to really congratulate Russia, I thought they played a great game," said USA and Seattle Storm head coach Anne Donovan. "They came out and shot better than they had all tournament. This was the time when you have to step up and perform and I thought Russia did a great job with that tonight. Hats off to them. We made valiant runs a couple of times deep into the game, in the fourth quarter twice, but Russia's lead was too great for us to come back."
"I don't even know how I did it then," said Sheryl Swoopes (Houston Comets), who was on the 1994 USA World Championship Team that lost to Brazil in the semis and came back to win the bronze over Australia. "But I know that I had older players who helped me understand what this is all about, who helped me understand how to come back after such a huge loss. It's very disappointing and I'm glad that we actually have a day in between to be able to reflect back on what we did wrong. It's going to be hard, knowing that we're not going to be playing for the gold medal. I think everybody is disappointed, from the coaching staff, the players, everybody here. But I know that nobody wants to go home without a medal. Even though that's not going to be gold, not going to be silver, I don't want to go home empty handed."
The USA dug itself a 12-point deficit in the first quarter as Russia scored the quarter's last eight points to go up 25-13. The U.S. spent the second quarter clawing back. Cutting the deficit to three points twice, at 2:45 the U.S. trailed 32-29. However, five points by Russia extended its lead to 37-29 and after Taurasi nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer the U.S. retired to its locker room trailing by five, 37-32.
Russia completely controlled the third period and outscored the Americans 21-6. Russia reeled off 12 unanswered points and at 6:04 the United States found itself trailing 49-32. Taurasi finally got the USA on the board with a three at 5:42 and didn't score again until the 1:11 mark when Candace Parker (Tennessee / Naperville, Ill.) completed a three-point play.
Russia took the U.S. out of its game in the third quarter, limiting the Americans to just 2-of-15 shooting from the field and forcing 10 turnovers. After the first 30 minutes of play had elapsed Russia was up 58-38.
The USA's defense came alive in the fourth quarter, spurring its offense to a 13-2 run. Taurasi hit eight during the span that was capped by two Taurasi free throws and with 6:14 to play the USA had fought back and reduced Russia's lead to 60-51.
Russia hit its first field goal of the fourth quarter at 6:03 and went on to pull ahead to 70-53 at 3:37. Sue Bird (Seattle Storm) bookended a 15-3 USA run with a pair of threes, and also notched a layup on a fast break and with 45.2 seconds remaining the U.S. lagged behind by just five points, 73-68.
While holding Russia scoreless at the other end and seeing Maria Stepanova picked up her fifth foul with just under a minute to play, the United States failed to convert on the offensive end and Russia, which made 13-of-19 overall from the line, earned its final points from the line.
In addition to Taurasi's 21 points, also scoring in double digits in the loss were Tina Thompson (Houston Comets), 15 points, and Parker, 13. Parker grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and also had two blocks, Bird dished out seven assists and finished the night with eight points.
"There's no question that their experience and size in the post caused us problems" added Donovan. "But we had many shots that hit the rim that we just didn't finish. I think that (6-8 center Maria) Stepanova did a great job, she was probably in our minds even when she wasn't close to the ball. I think it effected our shooting down low. And rebounding, we haven't been outrebounded at all so this is a first for that as well. It was just one of those games, it was not our night."
Guard Oxana Rakhmatulina fired off 18 points for her squad, Stepanova finished with a double-double of 13 points and 11 boards and 6-5 forward Tatiana Shchegoleva also double-doubled with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The USA finished its worst shooting game of the tournament making just 38.6 percent (27-70 Fgs) of its shots, while Russia shot 46.6 percent (27-58 FGs) from the field, including 8-of-14 from 3-point.
There was more at stake here than just a gold medal berth. The gold medalist at the World Championship earns a qualifying berth in the field of 12 teams at the 2008 Olympics. The U.S. will now have to qualify for the Olympics at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, slated to be held in Valdivia, Chile (dates TBD). Only the gold medalist from that tournament will qualify for the Olympics. FIBA will then hold a final 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in the summer of ?08.
Tonight's loss halted the USA's FIBA World Championship winning streak, which dated to the 1994 World Championship bronze medal game, at 26 games and the USA's string of victories ended at 50 overall in the Olympics and Worlds.
Australia got 26 points from Penny Taylor in a come-from-behind 88-76 victory over Brazil in Thursday's first semifinal. Brazil held a 40-39 edge at halftime and going into the final stanza the hosts were up 64-57. Australia tore through the fourth quarter, moving ahead for good 69-68 with about six minutes to play, and never looked back.
In classification play Argentina (5-3) finished in ninth place with a 74-57 victory over Canada (2-6), while Cuba (3-5) placed 11th with a 71-68 win over China (3-5). France (4-4) and Lithuania (4-4) will face each other for fifth place on Sept. 22, while the Czech Republic (4-4) and Spain (4-4) will vie for seventh place that day. Earlier today France advanced to the fifth-place game with a 79-78 squeaker over the Czech Republic and Lithuania collected an 81-70 win over Spain.
Donovan is being assisted at the 2006 FIBA World Championship by 2006 WNBA Coach of the Year Mike Thibault of the Connecticut Sun and collegiate head coaches Gail Goestenkors of Duke University (N.C.) and Dawn Staley of Temple University (Pa.).
2006 FIBA World Championship
The United States is looking at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, hosted by Brazil Sept. 12-23, to continue building upon the success it's experienced over the last decade in the international arena. Since the 1996 Olympic Games the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team has posted five consecutive gold medals at the Olympics and FIBA World Championships. Not only have the American women finished on the top of the podium, they have posted an unblemished 42-0 record, an unparalleled streak over the past decade among U.S. women's traditional team sports. Additionally, the United States is No. 1 in the world in every age group after also claiming gold at the 2005 FIBA U19 World Championship and 2003 FIBA U21 World Championship.
The Donovan-led U.S. squad will seek to defend its World Championship title at the 15th FIBA World Championship. Behind the play of 2002 FIBA World Championship MVP Leslie, as well as Bird, Catchings, Milton-Jones, Smith and Swoopes, the United States captured the ?02 gold medal, successfully defending it's 1998 World Championship crown.
The U.S. entered this year's Worlds with a record seven gold medals, one silver and one bronze at the World Championship, while compiling an 80-20 (.800 winning percentage) record, including a 19-0 winning streak that dates back to the 1994 bronze medal game.
