October 19, 2009

Press Box - USA BASKETBALL -- USA Women’s National Team Knocks Off Euroleasing Sopron 79-65 For Second Win In Ekaterinburg International Invitational - 10/10/2009

Press Box - USA BASKETBALL -- USA Women’s National Team Knocks Off Euroleasing Sopron 79-65 For Second Win In Ekaterinburg International Invitational - 10/10/2009: "EKATERINBURG, Russia (October 10, 2009) -- Behind a balanced scoring attack that saw all 12 healthy USA players score, including a USA high 15 points from University of Connecticut senior Tina Charles, the USA Women’s National Team (2-0) defeated Euroleasing Sopron (0-2) 79-65 in round-robin play at the Ekaterinburg International Invitational Saturday affternoon.
The U.S. caps the tournament Sunday against host and undefeated UMMC Ekaterinburg. UMMC Ekaterinburg, which finished third in the 2009 EuoLeague, pounded USK Prague 94-65 in Saturday's other contest to improve to 2-0. In addition to UMMC Ekaterinburg, also competing in the four-team 2009 Ekaterinburg International Invitational are EuroLeague professional teams ZVVZ USK Prague from the Czech Republic and the Hungary professional team MKB Euroleasing Sopron.
“I thought there were stretches where we looked really, really good. But as is the case here, it is very difficult to play defensively against these teams because they're experienced, they know each other so well, they move so well without the ball and there were times when we had a diff time trying to find where they were,” said USA head coach Geno Auriemma.
“I thought in the third quarter we were really, really good and we had great energy on the defensive and we really pushed the ball at them and were able to convert. I thought Asjha Jones played great; Sue (Bird) was really good; Tina (Charles) came off the bench and gave us a great start to the second half. It’s been a team effort so far. We haven’t had to rely on any one individual.”
Holding a 16-13 advantage with 2:00 remaining in the opening quarter, Shameka Christon (New York Liberty) connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to help push the USA build a cushion and take a 22-15 lead after the first quarter."

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