July 27, 2003

SIBENIK, Croatia (July 27, 2003) -- The USA Young Women's National Team (2-1) never got on track against a tough Brazilian (2-1) squad and fell 73-60 to drop its record to 2-1 on Sunday afternoon in Sibenik, Croatia. Cappie Pondexter (Rutgers / Chicago, Ill.) was the USA's leading scorer, and the only one in double digits, with 12 points. Following a day off, the Americans continue 2003 FIBA World Championship For Young Women preliminary round play on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. (12:45 p.m. EDT) against the Czech Republic (1-2), which lost to France (2-1) on Sunday 80-59.

"Their post players physically dominated our post players for one," said USA and Ohio State University head coach Jim Foster. "Two would be, after playing them twice we had a feeling of complacency to start the game, which allowed them to get going with a great deal of energy and we had to fight that all night. They were fueled by their energy. And our energy went into trying to catch them. They got the lead and were concerned with keeping it, and we could not match their intensity or their energy."

There were 10 lead changes and four knotted scores to start the first quarter and at 2:55 Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota / Hutchinson, Minn.) hit a jumper to tie it up 17-17. Brazil then made four straight free throws to take a 21-17 lead at 1:41 and by the end of the first quarter the USA trailed 23-20. Playing tenacious defense, Brazil jumped out to a 29-20 lead to start off the second quarter and with 5:49 showing on the clock Nicole Ohlde (Kansas State / Clay Center, Kan.) scored off of an offensive rebound to end the USA's scoring drought. Following a Brazilian miss Alana Beard (Duke / Shreveport, La.) swooshed a three to pull to within four, 29-25, at 5:02. But the South Americans scored six consecutive points in a 10-2 run to take a 12-point lead, 39-27, with 1:36 remaining in the half. Beard scored a put back at 1:14 and the USA went into the locker room trailing by ten, 39-29.

By the end of the third quarter the U.S. still pursued Brazil by 10, 52-42. In the fourth quarter Brazil increased its lead to 57-44 before Kendra Wecker (Kansas State / Marysville, Kan.) hit a pair of baskets and at 7:23 the gap was in single digits, 57-48. However, Brazil answered with six straight points to maintain the largest lead of the game, 63-48, with 6:03 remaining. The U.S., behind five points from Pondexter, went on an 8-1 run which ended when Shawntinice Polk (Arizona / Hanford, Calif.) made the second of two from the charity stripe and with 4:20 remaining the United States was behind by eight points, 64-56. But that was as close as the North Americans would come and the red, white and blue suffered its first loss.

"We weren't aggressive as we needed to be," said Pondexter. "We played Brazil twice (in Boston) and playing a team three times is kind of hard to do. I'm not making excuses. We didn't play our game. Brazil, as a team, wanted the game more than we did and it showed in the second and fourth quarters. We have to regroup and come out better against the Czechs on Tuesday. We played a bad game against France and regrouped against South Korea and we're going to have to do the same thing in our next game: regroup and come together as a team."

Flavia dos Santos scored a game high 17 points in her squad's winning effort.

The USA was outdistanced on the glass 37-28, and shot a paltry 37.3 percent (22-59 FGs) from the field and just 44.8 percent (13-29 FTs) from the line, while Brazil made 41.7 percent (25-60 FGs) of its field goals and 66.7 percent (18-27 FTs) from the charity stripe.

"We have eight games in 10 days and everybody in the world is getting very good at this game," added Foster. "You can't just walk out there and be able to beat anybody with anything less than a great effort, anything less than a great intensity. Brazil did a great job, they were very well prepared, they have a terrific coach. They went right at our big guys, no bones about it. If we have the opportunity to play them again, we're going to do the same thing. Between now and then we have to step up to that challenge."

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

In other preliminary round Group A play, host Croatia (1-1) takes on South Korea (0-2) in the 9:00 p.m. game. In Group B, Latvia (3-0) defeated Russia (2-1) 71-69 in overtime, China (1-2) surged past Tunisia (0-3) 71-45 and Australia (2-1) beat Argentina (1-2) 65-47.