Senior Maya Moore had nine points and a game-high eight rebounds in 15 minutes today as the U.S. defeated France 81-60 in its final preliminary round game at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The U.S. advances to the second round as the No. 1 seed from Group B.
Diana Taurasi led the U.S. with 15 points and six rebounds in 26 minutes. Tina Charles added 10 points, three rebounds and three assists in 19 minutes. Sue Bird had nine points and three steals in 26 minutes.
The U.S (3-0) will meet Canada (1-2) in the second round Monday in Ostrava (NBA TV). It will meet Belarus (2-1) Tuesday and Australia (3-0) Wednesday. All times are to be determined.
Rich
Betnijah Laney, a 6-foot wing from Delaware, eliminated UConn from her list of schools on Thursday according to her godmother Debra Walker.
UConn has Lost the following Ranked High School Seniors they had Recruited at one time.
#2 Elizabeth Williams
#4 Ariel Massengale
#8 Bria Smith
#11 Betnijah Laney
#12 Sarah Hammond
#40 Alyson Mallot
#61 Bonnie Samuelson
UConn will only have 9 available players after Maya Moore and Lorin Dixon graduate after this season.
And that 9 includes Caroline Doty, who, as you know, has a history of ACL surgeries.
Team USA accumulated statistics after their 3 Wins :
http://czechrepublic2010.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/10/fwc/women/team/p/eid/4730/sid/4730/tid/379/accumulated-statistics.html
Sue Bird leads the team in minutes played with 66. Has a 8/5 assist/turnover ratio which is much lower than her WNBA leading 3/1.
Angel McCoughtry has 10 steals in 52 minutes. Very instinctive and agressive on defense like Tamika Catchings.
Tina Charles shooting only 5/9 FT and Sylvia Fowles shooting only 6/13 FT. Both will need to shoot better from the Free Throw line or will end up in a Hack-a-Shaq situation in critical moments against Australia etc.
Maya Moore has 10 turnovers in 61 minutes. She will get better with more experience at this Olympic level of basketball. Miss Maya is gaining valuable knowledge which hopefully she can use to lead UConn during her senior season.
Jayne Appel has only played 18 minutes in mop up duty. Will be very interesting to see if Team USA actually gives her real playing time against Australia’s size. Which is why Team USA allegedly kept her on the 12 player roster.