USA Suffers Rare Defeat

April 19, 2008

Box Score | Quotes

BEIJING -- The U.S. Women's Senior National Team suffered a rare defeat in its Olympic Games preparation with a 74-60 loss to Australia in the opening round of the Good Luck Beijing Tournament Saturday.

Team USA (0-1) led 50-48 at the end of the third quarter but was outscored 26-10 by the Australians (1-0) over the final 10 minutes.

"Obviously the result was not what we wanted in terms of a win," said U.S. head coach Anne Donovan. "But I was pleased with several things I saw out there today.

"Number one, it's good to have Lisa Leslie back on the court for us again. She's done a tremendous job getting herself back in shape after having a baby and being away from us essentially since Athens. It's great to have her back on the floor again."

Leslie, returning to competition for the first time since before the 2007 WNBA season, led all scorers with 17 points and added eight rebounds. Katie Smith scored 14 and Sylvia Fowles added nine.

Courtney Paris was 0-for-1 with two rebounds in five minutes of play.

For more information on the U.S. Senior National Team, visit USABasketball.com.

"We've had four practices with this new and very young team so, overall, I thought we did a nice job after four days of practice," Donovan added. "It hurts us to lose this game against Australia, but we know we're going to continue to improve and get better as the tournament goes on."

Rohanee Cox had 16 points, Hollie Grima 13, Erin Phillips 12 and Suzy Batkovic 10 for Australia, who will try to claim an Olympic title following their gold medal success at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Brazil.

The contest featured 13 lead changes and seven tie scores as both team played evenly matched through much of the game. Neither team held more than a six-point lead through the first 33 minutes of action.

The U.S. captured a 52-51 lead with nine minutes remaining, but Australia regained it for good on the next possession and continued on a 13-3 run.

The Americans led 33-29 at halftime.

The U.S. struggled with its outside shooting, making just 2-of-19 from beyond the arc and made just 37 percent of its total shots (23-of-63). Australia outrebounded the U.S. 39-34, had 13 steals and scored 11 points off the 17 U.S. turnovers. Team USA was unable to capitalize on Australia's errors, collecting just two points on 13 turnovers.

"It's disappointing to lose because obviously playing for the USA, we never want to lose," said Leslie. "But I thought it was a very good learning experience with us coming here with a very young team. I thought we did a lot of good things tonight with the execution of our offense and also on defense. We will continue to improve and play better throughout this tournament."

The United States will face Cuba (1-0), which defeated New Zealand (0-1) 75-71 in its opening game, Sunday at 1:30 a.m. Central (2:30 p.m. local). The game will be televised live on NBA TV (DirecTV channel 601/DISH channel 402).

In the opening day's final matchup, host China (1-0) surged past South Korea (1-0) for an 80-67 win.

The Good Luck Beijing Tournament is serving as a test for the Olympic Games with all games being played at Wukesong Arena.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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