Diana Taurasi drops 22 as Team USA crush China to top Group A - London Olympics Women Basketball Recap
Team USA completed a clean sweep in their preliminary round by crushing China 114-66 here at the London Olympics on Sunday. The win for the Americans ensured their un-defeated status and a top place finish in Group A with 10 points,
just ahead of Turkey.
After averaging just seven points in the first three games, Diana Taurasi has started to hit form at the right time. She led the way with 22 points against China in just 21 minutes of action, shooting the ball 8 of 10 from the
field which included 4 three pointers on 5 attempts.
“The thing Diana understands more than everyone else I've been around is, what the big stage is, once the lights are brightest, when the games mean the most,” said USA coach Geno Auriemma after the game.
But she was not the only having a good night against China as five other American women managed to score in double figures. Angel McCoughtry chipped in with 16 points while Tina Charles and Maya Moore both scored 12 points each.
Candace Parker added 10 points and hauled down 6 rebounds while Lindsay Whalen provided 10 points in the game as well.
So dominant was the Americana performance on the night that they out-rebounded China 46-19 with 18 of them coming on the offensive glass.
On the other hand, Nan Chen was the leading scorer for the Chinese. She finished the game with 16 points; Xiaoyun Song scored 15 and Zengyu Ma chipped in with 13 points.
The first quarter of the game saw both teams remain equally competitive and had it not been for a 6-0 to end the first period, team USA would have not found themselves leading by 31-28 in the game.
An 18-4 run to start the second quarter saw the Americans stomp their authority in the game and a 9-1 run to close out the first half saw them take a 61-36 into the interval.
Much like the proceedings of the second quarter, team USA continued to dominate the Chinese outfit in the third. USA outscored China 33-12 in the third quarter and took a 94-48 lead going into the fourth.
After dominating for most of the night, the fourth quarter was merely a formality for the Americans, who decided to just take their foot off the pedal.
This allowed China to stay competitive in the period but their best of efforts had no effect what so ever on the American advantage.
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