July 25, 2003

SIBENIK, Croatia (July 25, 2003) -- The USA Young Women National Team (1-0) opened play at the 2003 FIBA World Championship For Young Women, defeating France (0-1) 58-46 on Friday night in Sibenik, Croatia. The USA's attack was led by Alana Beard's (Duke / Shreveport, La.) 13 points. The Americans continue play on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. (8:15 a.m. EDT) against South Korea (0-1), which fell 84-65 to the Czech Republic (1-0) this afternoon.

"The first days of competitions are always very difficult days to get a win," said USA and Ohio State University head coach Jim Foster. "Australia found that out today. South Korea was beating the Czech Republic at halftime and Russia thinks they have China put away. It was a very competitive game and China had a chance to pull it out. In international tournaments like this, you need to get through that first day and your players need to understand that it's a more physical game and start to develop a respect for the abilities of your opponents. Sometimes we tend to think we're the best and not everyone agrees with that. Especially teams from other countries, it's become a really competitive international scene and our players need to make adjustments to the physical dimensions and aspects of what international basketball is."

The first half was very disjointed and neither team was able to get into a rhythm. By the end of the first quarter France led 14-13 as both squads combined for 21 turnovers. The U.S. started the second quarter by scoring two quick baskets to go up 17-14 at 9:20, but by the 5:24 mark the United States still held a just three-point, 23-20, edge. Turnovers and poor shooting again limited the scoring and the Americans notched the half's final four points to take a 27-20 lead at the midway buzzer. The score sheet at the end of the half had the USA outrebounding France 20-15, but the U.S. was whistled for 10 fouls compared to France's three. The USA's defense limited France to 30.8 percent from the field (8-26 FGs), and managed to shoot 41.9 percent (13-31 FGs).

"We had an urgency to get into our offense," said Foster. "We were casual and when you're playing against a team that's intense like France is, you certainly can't be casual."

"That was bad on our part," said Beard, referring to the first half. "Coach got on us about being, quote unquote, too cool. We walked out there like we can beat anyone and that's not always the case. A lot of the teams out here are underprivileged and being the USA, we have a lot of things. We're basically spoon-fed. We get everything we want when we want it and sometimes we're not as hungry as other teams because of that. Sometimes you have to question the determination and heart that we have and I think that's what happened tonight. We walked out like we were expected to win, like we're supposed to win, but that's not always the way it is."

The U.S. opened up a 39-25 lead to end the third quarter after Kristen Mann (UC Santa Barbara / Santa Ana, Calif.), who was perfect from the floor (4-4), scored the quarter's final four points. France opened the final period's scoring at 8:44 to close to 39-27. Caity Matter (Ohio State / Bluffton, Ohio) answered with a 3-pointer at 8:27 and after a France missed basket, and with the shot clock running down, Matter nailed another at 7:47, expanding the lead to 45-27. With that, the U.S. seemed like it was back to the form it had in Boston.

However, France had other plans. The United States held a 52-35 upper hand after a Beard 3-pointer, but France came back with a 8-0 run, which included a pair of treys, and with two minutes remaining in the game the USA's lead had been cut to nine, 52-43. Shawntinice Polk (Arizona / Hanford, Calif.) hit one of two free throws to put the lead back to double digits, but France hit another 3-pointer, followed by a jumper with 22 seconds left and the gap shrunk to 53-48. But France's comeback hopes were dashed after Nicole Ohlde (Kansas State / Clay Center, Kan.) split a pair from the line at 11 seconds and Tanisha Wright (Penn State / West Mifflin, Pa.) put the nail in the coffin with a pair of free throws with three seconds on the clock and the USA came away with the win.

"We came out in the second half and executed better," said Beard. "We went into our zone, we communicated pretty well. In the first half they were getting the ball inside with ease. So we had our guards pack it in and help our post players out a little more in the second half and it helped our defense."

In addition to Beard's 13 points, Ohlde was the only other U.S. players who scored in double digits with 11 points. Christi Thomas (Georgia / Buford, Ga.) grabbed a team high seven rebounds.

Sabrina Reghaissia and Clair Tomaszewski scored 13 and 10 points, respectively, for France.

The United States outrebounded France 40-27 and shot 40.4 percent from the field, while limiting the French to 33.3 percent (19-57 FGs). However, France forced 23 turnovers and only had 14 of its own.

Foster is being assisted by collegiate head coaches Kathy Delaney-Smith of Harvard University (Mass.) and Felice Leggete-Jack of Hofstra University (N.Y.).

In other preliminary round Group A play, Brazil (1-0) trounced Croatia (0-1) 83-63. In Group B, Russia (1-0) defeated China (0-1) 64-53, Australia (0-1) was upset by Latvia (1-0) 69-58 and Argentina downed Tunisia 59-42.

"Their unique style of play is always an eye-opening experience for our players," stated Foster on the USA's next opponent South Korea, which took 33 shots (10-33 3PT FGs) from beyond the arc.

"Especially our post players who are not in the habit of stepping out and defending the 3-point line on a fairly consistent basis."

Additional Quotes

CAITY MATTER, Ohio State University

On her 3-pointers:

"I didn't shoot well to start, I was something like 0-for-4, I was thinking about it too much. Coach Foster told me I was thinking too much and they just came in the rythem of the offense. We got in our spots, we moved the ball around and my teammates got me the ball and they win. Hopefully we'll all shoot better in the next game."

NICOLE OHLDE, Kansas State University

On the game:

"It was good because we finally go to come out and play a game instead of practicing and traveling for the past four or five days, but we didn't come out the way we should ahve. We need to learn from this and come out the rest of the tournament really fired up and aggressive because the rest of the games may not be like that. We may not be as lucky as we were today to get away with the win."

On the team's first half performance:

"We didn't come out, we need to get to our spots on offense and really work the ball, not try to go as much one-on-one. We need to try to create more shots for the whole team. We just need to come out and play better as a team"

CHRISTI THOMAS, University of Georgia

On the game:

"It was good playing in Boston, getting us used to the international style of play, these teams are really physical. We didn't play as well as we could have, but it's a starting point for the whole thing. I think we all need to get a feel for it and there's nowhere to go but up from here."

On her rebounding:

"(The coaches) told us (at halftime) we weren't doing a good enough job in the first half, so I took it upon myself to make a difference and that was one of my goals in the second half."