USA Women Cap College Tour With 97-62 Defeat Of Stanford University

Closing out its 2007 College Tour with a 97-62 victory over host Stanford University to remain a perfect 8-0 against top collegiate squads, the 2007 USA Basketball Women�s National Team was paced in the win by Sue Bird�s (Seattle Storm) 19 points on Thursday night in Maples Pavilion. Five additional players scored in double digits to help the squad score the most points of the tour, including Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx) with 16 points, Kara Lawson (Sacramento Monarchs) tossed in 15, Kara Braxton (Detroit Shock) contributed 14, while Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury) chipped in 13 points.

Not only did the 2007-08 USA National Team cap the coast to coast tour with a perfect record, it upped its overall record on the year to an unblemished 19-0 slate, which includes the 2007 Tour of Italy (4-0), a pair of exhibition victories over Australia and the gold medal and an Olympic berth at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship (5-0).

�The college tour was really good for us,� said USA and Seattle Storm head coach Anne Donovan. �We had goals with every game and it wasn�t until this eighth game that everything came together, from the first minute to the 40th minute. Everybody played well in this last game against Stanford.

�We have played some great teams on this tour and in our minds we haven�t played a 40-minute game. We came out knowing we were facing a great test in Stanford. They are very experienced with (Candice) Wiggins on the perimeter, so we really had to come out, and if we were going to accomplish the task of a 40-minute game, then we had to start off strong. That�s exactly what we did and I was very pleased about that tonight.�

Leading from start to finish, the USA held a 25-14 lead 11 minutes into the game. Stanford�s tossed in eight straight points in a 10-2 run in a four-minute span and with five minutes left before the break the National Team�s 11-point advantage was cut down to three, 27-24.

However, following a pair of made free throws by Taurasi, the USA scored on three consecutive fast break possessions and was off and running. In all, the squad strung together a 16-2 run that included six points from Taurasi and three assists and a pair of 3-pointers from Bird and with 1:36 to play on the half the USA was up 43-26.

Holding a 45-30 lead at halftime, the pros returned from the locker room and in the first four minutes outscored the Cardinal 12-2 and quickly increased their advantage over the collegians to 25 points, 57-32. The red, white and blue expanded its lead to as much as 38 points, 77-39 after Jamie Carey (Connecticut Sun) drained a second straight three on her former home court at 10:09.

�Coach stated what our goals were and those were to finish strong and have a complete game,� said Bird. �We kind of struggled at times, but I�m really glad that we can finish this tour with a good taste in our mouth.�

�It was a good tour for us,� added Taurasi, who averaged a team-best 14.8 ppg. against the collegians. �It was long with the travel, but overall we did what we wanted to accomplish, which was to get together and form team chemistry and I think we did that.�

The USA was outrebounded by its opponents for just the second game of the tour as the Cardinal held a 36-32 edge on the glass. However, that was the only stat that tilted Stanford�s way. The USA shot 59.1 percent from the field, including a respectable 56.3 percent from 3-point, compared to the host�s 40.4 percent from the floor. The U.S. also had 10 steals on 21 Cardinal turnovers, while committing just nine turnovers of its own.

The U.S. dished out 27 assists, led by Lisa Leslie�s (Los Angeles Sparks) five, on 39 field goals.

�This team shares the ball so well,� said Donovan. �It�s the most enjoyable part of watching this team play, how well we share the ball and make the next pass. We haven�t really struggled with our shooting percentages a whole lot, we�ve just struggled taking care of the ball. We�ve turned the ball over a lot in our other games and today we had three turnovers at halftime. Our focus was there. Mentally the girls came out of the locker room ready to play.�

Stanford was led by 2007 USA U19 World Championship Team gold medalist Kayla Pedersen, who had 11 points and nine rebounds; 2007 USA Pan American Games Team gold medalist Jayne Appel and Jillian Harmon, who won a gold at the 2004 USA Youth Development Festival scored 10 points apiece. Candice Wiggins, a 2007-08 USA Basketball Women�s National Team member who collected golds last summer playing for the USA U21 World Championship and USA Pan American Games squads had seven points and three assists in 19 minutes.

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