USA Women Complete Successful Spring Training With Perfect 13-0 Record

April 20, 2004  •  Colorado Springs, Colorado

The 2004 USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team capped a successful spring training schedule with an

USA head coach Van Chancellor upped his USA Basketball record to 27-0. (Photo: Bill Baptist / Getty Images / NBAE)

unblemished 13-0 record in its early preparations for Athens. Featuring three separate training sessions, the USA's competition ranged from national and professional club teams to the 2004 WBCA All-Star Team, with games played in six international arenas and four domestic cities. The three camps gave the coaching staff and USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team Committee a chance to see 10 U.S. candidates compete alongside the Senior National Team core group members in hope of securing one of the three remaining roster positions.

"When we started the spring tour, we were trying to meet three objectives," said USA and Houston Comets head coach Van Chancellor. "The first thing we wanted to do was to meet and evaluate our personnel, see the things they could and could not do, and try to determine who the three best players were to recommend to the (USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team) Committee. Number two, we wanted to evaluate the basketball part of what we could or could not do in regards to the plays we're going to run or what defenses we were going to run. The third thing we were trying to do was build some cohesiveness on our team, bring us together as a unit. I was very, very pleased with the fact that we accomplished all of our goals that we set out to try to accomplish with this tour.

"We had some players who played really, really well and that was good. We pretty much put in our game plan for the Olympics. It'll just be a matter of meeting up (again in August) to try and execute that. We played under pressure well, we beat some teams by a lot, we had some close games, we played against a mixture of teams from Asia, from Cuba, from Europe and saw all different styles of play, which I thought was very important."

Chancellor was assisted on the sidelines by Anne Donovan (Seattle Storm). The nine core group members of the 2004 USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team include Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever), Shannon Johnson (San Antonio Silver Stars), Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks), DeLisha Milton-Jones (Los Angeles Sparks), Katie Smith (Minnesota Lynx), Dawn Staley (Charlotte Sting), Sheryl Swoopes (Houston Comets) and Tina Thompson (Houston Comets). The nine internationally experienced athletes are expected to represent the United States at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The Olympics will be held August 13-29.

The 10 USA team candidates who joined the training at various stages included Swin Cash (Detroit Shock), Cheryl Ford (Detroit Shock), Deanna Nolan (Detroit Shock), Tari Phillips (New York Liberty), Ruth Riley (Detroit Shock), Tangela Smith (Sacramento Monarchs), Michelle Snow (Houston Comets), Diana Taurasi (University of Connecticut), Nikki Teasley (Los Angeles Sparks) and Natalie Williams (Indiana Fever).

The Americans were without the services of two-time World Champion and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Milton-Jones for all 13 games. She suffered a torn ACL in her right knee on Feb. 22 in Jacksonville, Fla., prior to the team departing for Cuba. Staley, head coach at Temple University (Pa.), advanced her Owls to the 2004 NCAA Tournament and joined the team's training on April 3, missing both the Cuba and European tours; while Leslie was unable to compete in Europe and Swoopes missed the final four contests in Europe due to prior commitments.

Overall, the United States closed its 13-game training with four players averaging in double figures, including Leslie (18.3 ppg.), Thompson (16.5 ppg.), Williams (12.5 ppg.) and Swoopes (10.7 ppg.). Leslie and Williams were the top two rebounders at 6.6 rpg. and 6.5 rpg., respectively. The USA's unselfish play was evidenced by no less than five players dishing out at least 3.0 assists a contest, including Johnson (4.6 apg.), Staley (4.0 apg.), Taurasi (4.0 apg.) Bird (3.7 apg.) and Swoopes (3.3 apg.).

Powerful Five The USA's starting five of Shannon Johnson, Lisa Leslie, Katie Smith, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson combined for 60.4 points a game. (Photo: Bill Baptist / Getty Images / NBAE)

As a team, the USA averaged 90.9 ppg., outscoring foes by 32.3 ppg., as the Americans' stifling defense held opponents to 58.6 ppg. Further, the U.S. shot 53.6 percent from the field and a respectable 42.6 from 3-point range, while limiting opponents to just 33.9 percent from the floor and 27.6 ppg., and outrebounded foes by a 17.6 rpg. margin (42.2 rpg. to 24.6 rpg.).

Following the WNBA season, the U.S. team will reconvene on Aug. 3 to complete their pre-Olympic training at sites to be announced.

Cuba Series
Starting out with a three-game series against host Cuba, gold medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games, in Havana Feb. 24-26, the available U.S. team members were joined by Cash, Ford, Riley and Teasley. The North Americans bested the islanders 73-37 behind 19 points from Leslie on Feb. 24 to open the series. The next night Leslie scored a team high 22 points in the 97-51 victory and the USA closed out the trip with an 82-48 win as Leslie and Thompson each scored 14 points.

Outscoring Cuba 38.7 ppg. (84.0 ppg. to 45.3 ppg.), the USA also won the battle on the glass 43.4 rpg. to 22.3 rpg., shot 56.2 percent from the field as compared to Cuba's 27.6 percent, and passed off for 48 assists on 91 baskets.

Leslie and Thompson paced the powerful offense, averaging 18.7 ppg. and 12.7 rpg., respectively. Thompson was the USA's leading rebounder, averaging 6.7 rpg., while Johnson passed out a team best 3.7 apg.

European Tour
The U.S., joined by Cash, Nolan, Phillips, Riley, Tangela Smith and Snow, traveled to Europe to face five top national and professional teams. Playing six games in five cities in nine nights, the USA scored at a clip of 80.0 ppg., compared to 60.7 ppg. by its opponents and held a 13.7 margin on the glass (36.7 rpg. to 23.0 rpg.). Featuring the toughest opponents of the spring tour, the Europeans held the United States below 50.0 percent shooting from the field as the U.S. shot 48.6 percent, but held opponents to 37.0 percent overall. Again the selflessness was evident as the United States was assisted on nearly half (94) of its 194 baskets.

Behind 20 points from Swoopes the USA defeated 2003 European Championship fourth place finisher Poland 81-62 in Starogard Gdanski, Poland, on March 20. Competing against 2004 EuroLeague Final Four runner-up Lotos VBW Clima in Gdynia, Poland, the United States received 21 points from Thompson in the 86-64 victory on March 21.

The U.S. next played a pair of games against 2003 European Championship silver medalist Czech Republic in Brno, Czech Republic, March 23 and 24. In the first contest the United States was paced to an 85-69 victory by Thompson's 30 points and on March 24 Catchings, Johnson and Thompson scored 12 points apiece to lead the red, white and blue to a 73-46 win.

Hungary was the final stop for the Americans, who got their first real test in a 67-59 victory over 2004 EuroLeague third place finisher MiZo Pecsi VSK in Pecs on March 27. After falling behind by 12 points in the first quarter, the United States used the next two quarters to claw back and the fourth quarter to pull away for a hard fought victory. Thompson and Cash powered the USA, which held a huge advantage on the glass (50-17), to the win with double-doubles of 27 points and 12 rebounds, and 13 points and 12 rebounds, respectively. Playing their final European game in Budapest against the Hungarian National Team, the American women, behind 21 points from Thompson, remained perfect with an 88-64 victory on March 28.

Domestic Tour
Regrouping on April 3 at the Final Four in New Orleans, La., the USA, which saw the return of Staley to a USA jersey, along with hopefuls Cash and Williams, faced a collection of talent in the 2004 WBCA College All-Stars and upped its record to a perfect 10-0 after running away with a 105-58 victory. The USA's balanced scoring attack saw six players score no less than 10 points, including a game high of 23 from Leslie.

The USA's final three tests came against 2004 Asia Championship silver medalist Japan. Joined on April 8 by Taurasi, who helped the University of Connecticut capture the NCAA title two days earlier, the USA posted its highest scoring game of the tour with a 123-71 victory over Japan on April 9 in Denver, as Cash led all scorers with 21 points. On April 12 in Lubbock, Texas, Swoopes' 19 points helped give the U.S. a 118-66 win and the USA closed out its spring tour with a 104-67 decision in Houston on April 13 behind 18 points apiece from Leslie and Thompson.

During the USA's final four games, the team's potent offense poured in 112.5 ppg., while limiting opponents to 65.5 ppg. The U.S. again dominated the boards, 49.8 rpg. to 28.8 rpg., and was credited for an eye-popping 129 assists (32.3 apg.) on 189 baskets.

Seven players averaged in double digits during the USA Domestic Tour, including Leslie (18.2 ppg.), Cash (16.2 ppg.), Catchings (15.5 ppg.), Thompson (13.8 ppg.), Williams (12.5 ppg.), Katie Smith (10.2 ppg.) and Swoopes (10.2 ppg.). Leslie, Cash and Catchings averaged 8.0 rpg., 7.8 rpg. and 7.2 rpg., respectively to pace the squad on the glass; while five players averaged no less than four assists a game, including Bird (6.0 apg.), Johnson (5.0 apg.), Swoopes (4.3 apg.), Staley (4.0 apg.) and Taurasi (4.0 apg.).