All five of the USA's starters scored in double digits, including Taj McWilliams-Franklin with 12 points (Photo: Robert Rogers / Baylor Photography)

Nov. 6, 2007 • Waco, Texas

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Behind 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists from Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), the 2007 USA Basketball Women’s National Team (4-0) ran past No. 15 Baylor University in the second half for an 82-56 victory at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas, on Tuesday night. Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks) notched her second double-double in as many games with 10 points and 11 rebounds as the U.S. marked its largest margin of victory (+26) of the 2007 College Tour.

All five of the USA’s starters hit double digits for points as Sue Bird (Seattle Storm) had 14 and Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx) and Taj McWilliams-Franklin (Los Angeles Sparks) pitched in 12 points apiece.

“We’re playing eight of the top 15 colleges (in the country),” said USA and Seattle Storm head coach Anne Donovan. “As you saw in the first half, we’re getting great competition. Every time we step out on the court together we’re getting good preparation for Beijing. That said, it is a great opportunity for these players to get back home and for a lot of fans across the United States to see our players domestically. The WNBA season is pretty short, and in limited cities, so it’s nice to have our players have the opportunity to come back, and to have women’s college basketball fans get to see them play. It’s a good opportunity for all of us.

The USA Basketball squad opened its fourth college game in strong fashion, running out to a 14-3 lead to open the game. But in what became a foul-plagued first half that saw the U.S. whistled for 11 infractions and commit 12 turnovers, the red, white and blue trailed Baylor 29-24 with 3:23 to go. Fighting back with the help of a pair of threes, one each from Bird and Taurasi, the USA headed to the locker room holding a 34-33 edge.

“Baylor came out really aggressive,” said Donovan. “We didn’t come out so sharp and they made us pay for that. We did a good job regrouping and then coming out in the second half and really getting after it.”

Shaking off the first half, the USA National Team took to the court after the break with renewed vigor. Getting five points and an assist from Taurasi and four points and an assist from Leslie, the squad quickly expanded its lead to 43-33 at 16:19. The USA went up to as many as 15 points, but with 9:11 left Baylor’s Rachel Allison made it a 12-point game, 59-47. That was as close as the Lady Bears would get the rest of the night.

“Sometimes the motor takes a little bit longer to get started, and coach Donovan got into us a little bit,” said Taurasi. “So we came out a little bit more aggressive and tried to do some different things on defense and offense.”

McWilliams-Franklin hit a couple baskets, followed by a pair of Taurasi free throws and with 7:43 remaining the game was blown wide open, 65-47. Baylor managed another basket, but Augustus, Leslie and Taurasi all put up points in a 7-0 run that expanded the USA’s insurmountable lead to 72-49. The gap ballooned to 26 points twice before the final buzzer closed the book on the USA’s first half of its 2007 College Tour.

The USA, which shot a near-perfect 90.9 percent (20-22 FTs) from the line, made 44.4 percent (8-18 3pt FGs) from 3-point, while limiting Baylor to just 27.4 percent (20-73 FGs) from the field and 13.8 percent (4-29 3pt FGs) from beyond the arc. Baylor also struggled from the line, making only 52.2 percent (12-23 FTs) of its tries from the charity stripe. The National Team outrebounded Baylor 56-38 and its second half performance produced 14 of the squad’s 21 assists and held the turnovers to eight for a total of 20 on the night.

Baylor was paced by Jessica Morrow’s 17 points, while Angela Tisdale finished with 14. Both players had 12 by halftime. Also, Rachel Allison was the game’s high rebounder with 12 to go with her six points.

The USA, which is scheduled to practice tomorrow at Arizona State University at 4:00 p.m. (all times local), starts the second half of the eight-game 2007 College Tour on Thursday when it meets ASU in Tempe at 6:30 p.m., the squad returns to the Lone Star State for a Nov. 11 match-up against Texas A&M University in College Station at 6:00 p.m. Moving west to California for its final two games, Nov. 13 will see the USA pitted against the University of Southern California in Los Angeles at 7:00 p.m., and the USA concludes its tour on Nov. 15 at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., at 7:00 p.m.

Donovan is being assisted by Connecticut Sun head coach Mike Thibault.

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