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USA Junior Women Fall To Host Czech Republic 92-88 In Medal Semifinal
July 21, 2001
BRNO, Czech Republic (July 21, 2001) - Despite receiving 25 points from Diana Taurasi (Connecticut / Chino, Calif.), the defending Junior World Champions were unseated by host Czech Republic (5-1) as the 2001 USA Basketball Women's Junior World Championship Team (5-1) dropped its semifinal match to the Czechs 92-88 tonight in Brno, Czech Republic. Keeping its medal hopes alive, the United States will play for the bronze medal on Sunday, July 22 at 5:45 p.m. (all times local) against Australia (5-1), which lost to Russia (5-1) 69-54 in tonight's second semifinal contest. The Czech Republic will face Russia in the gold medal game at 8:00 p.m. Sunday. "The Czech team was better prepared than we were," said USA and University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma. "Their organization was much superior than ours, they knew exactly what they wanted to do and they did it. We could never find the answer to stop them on defense. Today they were too good for us and they deserved to win. I don't know if it was mistakes that we made more than the Czech Republic was just so good on offense. We couldn't stop them, they made good shots, they played great and there was nothing we could do about it. They deserved to win."
"The Czech Republic had a great game," said Taurasi. "They made every big shot, they made their free throws. Like coach said, we had no answers for what they were doing. Their dribble penetration ended up winning the game for them. "We can't let this get to us," added Taurasi. "We still have a shot at a medal and even though we wanted to be in the gold medal game, we're going to go out there tomorrow night and play like it's the gold medal game." The Czechs went up by as many as 10 points twice to start the fourth quarter and held an 81-72 lead with 6:14 remaining. Behind a pair of free throws from Shameka Christon (Arkansas / Hot Springs, Ark.) and six points from Alana Beard (Duke / Shreveport, La.), the U.S. went on an 8-2 run to pull within three points, 83-80 with just under five minutes to play and with 1:55 left the U.S. trailed by four, 87-83. The Czechs went to the line four times over the game's waning minutes and collected all five of their final points from the charity stripe. Following two Czech shots from the line with 36.4 seconds remaining, Nicole Powell (Stanford / Phoenix, Ariz.) nailed a 3-pointer with 30 seconds to go to close to 91-86. The Czechs were again sent to the line on their next possession, but missed both free throws and Rutgers University (N.J.) freshman-to-be Cappie Pondexter (John Marshall H.S./ Chicago, Ill.) came up with the rebound, ran the length of the court and scored the USA's final two points of the contest. The United States' defensive pressure wouldn't allow the Czech team to inbounds the ball within the allotted five seconds and the U.S. had 12.9 seconds to make a play to tie the game. Before the Americans could get the game started again, Pondexter was called for her fifth foul, which gave the ball back to the Czechs. University of Tennessee freshman-to-be Loree Moore (Narbonne H.S. / Harbor City, Calif.) received her fifth foul before the inbounds pass, sending Tereza Brantlova to the line. After missing her first, Brantlova made her second which put the game out of reach 92-88. The Czech Republic took advantage of five consecutive missed baskets by the U.S. to start the game and by the 6:06 mark, held a 9-0 lead before Pondexter put the USA on the board six seconds later with a layup. Following a Czech jumper, the Americans sent in a trio of treys to knot the game at 11 apiece at 4:13. While neither team was able to gain momentum, the U.S. sent its opponents to the line for 10 of their final 12 points of the first quarter and at the end of the first 10 minutes, the score was tied 23-23. Eleven of the Czech Republic's 23 points came from the line, while the U.S. earned just three on five attempts. The score was knotted 44-44 at halftime and with 4:22 go to in the third period, following six lead changes and four tied scores, each team had 63 points on the board. Included in the lead changes was the USA's final upper hand after a Taurasi 3-pointer put the U.S. up 59-57 at 5:47. The Czech's took the lead for good after a 3-pointer with 4:02 remaining in the quarter gave them a 66-63 advantage and by 2:46 the lead was four, 69-65. Neither team was able to score on their respective ends of the floor and with 40 seconds left in the third, Taurasi was sent to the line and closed the gap to 69-67. Loree Moore collected her third foul on the opposite end, the U.S. turned the ball over on its final possession of the third and with 1.6 showing on the clock, Michaela Uhrova was fouled by Powell, her third, beyond the arc and made it a 4-point play to put her squad ahead 75-67 at the end of the third period. In addition to Taurasi, Beard contributed 20 points, Powell checked in for 14 and Pondexter finished with 12 points. Stephens grabbed a game high 10 rebounds and Taurasi passed off for a team high four steals. Eva Viteckova scored a game high 29 points, while Jana Vesela added 21 points and 10 rebounds and Irena Spirkova scored 17 points. In what was a foul-plagued game for the United States, the Americans were whistled for more than twice as many infractions as the Czechs and three U.S. players (Loree Moore, Pondexter, Taurasi) fouled out of the contest. The USA had 34 fouls, while the hosts, who earned nearly one third of its points from the charity stripe (30-42 FTs), committed just 16. The Czech Republic edged the United States on the glass, 34-32, and shot 49.2 percent from the field, as compared to the USA's 41.0 shooting percentage. Assisting Auriemma on the sidelines are collegiate head coaches Sherri Coale, from the University of Oklahoma, and Willette White, from Northeastern University (Mass.). Defending FIBA Junior World Championship gold medalist, the United States earned the gold with an exciting 78-74 overtime victory over then-defending Junior World Champions Australia in the 1997 competition. Held every four years since 1985, the U.S. finished no better than fifth in the first three competitions. The USA's loss today dropped the Americans' overall record at the Junior Worlds to 23-10 (69.7 winning percentage).
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