USA Basketball

On today's game:
I was really pleased that we never lost our intensity. From the beginning of the game to the end of the game I thought we really kept our energy and our intensity up. That's what you want to do in games like these, you really want to be able to come in hard, play hard all the way through and not lose your focus. I thought that every player did a great job of that. We improved in a lot of areas. Our post defense was outstanding. Our ball pressure, our zone looked good. We improved in a lot of areas that we were working on.

What do you think about the tournament?
This has been a great tournament so far. All the games have been very competitive. The teams are hungry to come in here and qualify for the Olympic Games. If they don't qualify for the Olympics by winning first, they know they can qualify for another chance to get to Beijing. What you find here is teams playing very hard and very well, putting a lot on the line.

What do you think about the Chilean basketball team?
They had a great win yesterday, a big win over Mexico. They're a very good team and looking to build their national team program. By hosting this event, having a lot of people come out and watch them play and perform well, I think they're going to continue to grow the sport here. I'm proud of them and I wish them well.

On being able to distribute minutes:
The big thing is when you play a team like Jamaica, the tendency could be to take them lightly or to let up at some point in the game. But I was really pleased that we didn't. In the second quarter we gave up 17 points. Other than that, defensively we really stayed after it from start to finish. Everybody got to play and everybody did very, very well. You look at our bench statistics and they're right in there helping us shoot 60 percent from the floor. There were a lot of good things on both end of the floor tonight.

What do you expect to see from Canada tomorrow?
Canada will be a very strong team. Dawn (Staley) has a lot of experience with them in the Pan Am Games this summer and she said that Canada gave the USA one of their closest games. They're very scrappy. We scouted them last night against Jamaica and we're looking forward to seeing their game against Cuba today so we can see a little bit more of their game. We know they have great perimeter play balanced with some big bodies in the post. We'll have to go out and play our best game to move past them and get into the medal round on top of our pool.

Seimone Augustus, Minnesota Lynx
On her 15-point fourth-quarter outburst:
We knew we were going to come in after the starters played their 10 minutes in the third quarter and we didn't want to have any kind of drop off. We switched over to a two-three zone, something that coach said we needed to work on. I think we did an excellent job at executing that. On the flip side, I think we did an awesome job of getting our transition going, getting a lot of running opportunities off of our defensive deflections and things like that.

Is it hard to stay focused after you've built such a big lead?
It's not hard because we're looking at the bigger picture. It's not just about today, we wanted to finish this game strong. But we know there are other tough teams in this tournament. We face Canada tomorrow and they're not going to be a pushover. We not only needed to take care of this game today, we needed to prepare for the next game as well.

Courtney Paris, University of Oklahoma
On today's game:
I thought we did a good job of adjusting and playing together, scoring some baskets and doing some good things. We got our starting guys going, running some things, getting better and working on things for the tougher games. And all the other guys got in and it was a lot of fun. We're going to be a lot better from it.

Were you surprised at how quickly the U.S. jumped out?
Not really. One thing coach Donovan talked about in the locker room was playing to our level, making sure we're working on things we need to work on. I think we were really focused on that. We were working on trying to get better.

What do you expect from tomorrow's game?
It's going to be a lot tougher than Jamaica. Again, I think we're just going to have to focus on ourselves and keep getting better.

Cappie Pondexter, Phoenix Mercury
On today's game:
Collectively, all 12 players brought their ‘A' games. We didn't let up, even though we knew we were playing a lesser opponent than Cuba. We just played great basketball, especially on the defensive end.

Is it hard to stay focused after you've built such a big lead?
It is sometimes, but that's why we have to stay mentally sharp. You have to give us credit because we came out mentally prepared in the second half.

The team seemed to shoot the ball better today. What would you attribute that to?
We got great spacing. Our defense established our offense and we were able to run a lot and get great open shots.

What should the fans expect to see in tomorrow's game?
The same level of play from all 12 players. We're so deep that we definitely can wear our opponents down if all 12 of us bring our ‘A' games. We know that Canada's a great team and they're going to bring their ‘A' game as well. We just have to be prepared.

Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
On today's game:
Jamaica's a pretty good team. Obviously they're not on the same level as Cuba. I think today was more about us going out there and playing well and we did that.

Is it hard to stay focused after you've built such a big lead?
That's always a worry when you go up by so much. But we have 12 people who want to be on the court and when you're out there you want to play really hard. You want to prove to the coaches that you belong out there on the court. That's the type of mind-set we take when we step on the floor.

On the overall distribution of effort, points, minutes, etc., today:
That's the type of game we want to play. We're so deep that we can pressure people defensively, get out and run and get easy shots because we have so many great shooters and scorers. Today was kind of, hopefully, the model we'll try to follow with over the next three games.

You have Canada tomorrow, what do you expect to see from that team?
Canada's a good team. You can tell they're well coached, they run their offense thoroughly. Defensively they're very sound. It's going to be another tough game. But as long as we continue to get better every day it's going to help us win these last three games.

Tina Thompson, Houston Comets
On today's game:
We went in with the intentions of coming in and being very aggressive, especially defensively. Our defense created a lot of offensive opportunities, which is great. That's something that we needed to do. We knew that Jamaica was going to come out and play really hard, as will every team we're going to face in this tournament. We needed one of those games where we felt good about it afterwards. Of course you feel good about every win, but some of those are a little more special when you execute well and see the things that we've worked on over the past two weeks really coming together.

On the difference between the game versus Cuba and today's game against Jamaica:
We worked out a lot of the kinks (yesterday). We got a good win, it probably wasn't the type of win that we wanted but a win is a win. Today was more along the lines of what we intend to do. Teams are going to come out and play their best against us. We're going to expect their best and continue to execute our game plan.

What do you think about everyone saying the USA is the favorite to win the tournament?
It's not something you really think about a lot. It's in the back of our minds and in front of the minds of most of the teams we compete against. That's why we have to come out and compete at a high level and not take minutes off at all. We're a target, we know that. But that's one of the things that keeps us playing hard on the defense. It's not something that we're taking to heart. It's great that everyone thinks that, but we're going to come in and do battle like we have something to lose. Because we do.