Paris, U.S. Dominate New Zealand

April 23, 2008

BEIJING -- The U.S. Women's Senior National Basketball Team collected its third straight win at the Good Luck Beijing Tournament with a 78-60 victory over New Zealand Wednesday.

The tournament, played at Wukesong Arena, is an Olympic test event coordinated by FIBA.

"I give a lot of credit to New Zealand for just not quitting, having a very good second half and continuing to fight," said U.S. head coach Anne Donovan. "After the first half we thought the game was over, but New Zealand didn't believe that. They kept fighting. They certainly made it an interesting game there at the end."

The U.S. led 20-14 at the end of the first quarter and began to pull awar in the second quarter with a 9-0 run. The U.S. led New Zealand 48-22 at the half and 70-31 at the end of the third quarter. New Zealand did not go away without a fight, however, as the outscored the Americans 29 to 8 in the final period.

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

Team USA led by as many as 31 points and outrebounded the Kiwis 55-36.

All 11 members of the U.S. team scored with Sylvia Fowles leading the Americans with 14 points. Katie Smith added 10 and Lisa Leslie scored nine points.

Courtney Paris made the most of her 11 minutes, scoring six points on 3-of-5 field goal shooting and adding five rebounds and two assists. All of Paris' points came in relief of Fowles during a five-minute stretch in the second quarter.

Aneka Kerr, 17 points, and Angela Marino, 14 points, were the only two New Zealanders who scored in double figures.

A tightly-called contest saw the teams charged 26 fouls each and combine for 62 attempts from the free throw line.

The U.S. plays host China Thursday at 8 p.m. local (7 a.m. Central) in its final preliminary round contest. The game will be televised live on NBA TV (DirecTV channel 601/DISH channel 402) and replayed at 3 p.m. Central.

Should the U.S. (3-1) win Thursday, it will face China (4-0) again for the gold medal Saturday, April 26, at 8 p.m. local time (7 a.m. Central) in a game televised live on NBA TV.

In the day's other games, Australia (2-2) got its second win by edging South Korea (1-3) 78-71, while host China remained undefeated with a 66-58 win over Cuba (2-2).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors