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Saturday, September 30
U.S. cruises past Australia
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- This was a gold medal earned the hard
way.
|  | | Members of the U.S. women's basketball team celebrate after Saturday's gold medal victory. |
On foreign soil, in front of a hostile crowd and facing the home
team, the United States beat Australia 76-54 Saturday to win the
gold in women's basketball and cap a perfect Olympics.
"We played hard, we played great," U.S. center Lisa Leslie
said. "We knew we could do it, but it's still an amazing feeling
to do it on someone else's homecourt."
The United States did it with its cornerstones -- strong inside
play, quickness and depth -- and reaffirmed its position as the
world's best in the sport.
U.S. teams also won the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics in
1996 and in the 1998 world championships before this success in
Sydney, going 25-0 in those games.
The latest victory came against an inspired Australian team
energized by boisterous fans waving flags and signs. But in the
end, it was the small band of U.S. fans, led by Alonzo Mourning and
several other members of the men's team, who were cheering as the
players celebrated on the floor.
They had overcome their last challenge in a tough Olympic
tournament.
"Yes, we earned that gold medal," Teresa Edwards exclaimed as
she rushed past reporters on her way to the dressing room.
Edwards earned the right to be happy. It was her fifth and final
Olympics and fourth gold medal.
Australia's silver medal marked the nation's highest finish ever
in women's basketball. The Aussies had won their first seven games
in Sydney with outstanding defense and sharp teamwork.
But the team known affectionately to its fans as the Opals could
not match the Americans' talent. Leslie was too quick for the
Australian post players, Natalie Williams and Yolanda Griffith too
strong. Sheryl Swoopes scored almost anytime she felt like it.
And the U.S. depth was overwhelming. Australia just couldn't
keep up.
"They have so many bigs. It's not just Natalie," Australia's
Sandy Brondello said. "I'm disappointed. I didn't knock down the
shots I usually do and I got those open shots."
As men's star Vince Carter watched while wearing an American
flag, the United States turned it on early. The U.S. team built a
15-point lead and was up by 13 at halftime. The crowd not only was
getting quiet but restless.
"We had to do that," Edwards said. "We were on their floor,
we were on a foreign court. We had to go at them and hope the game
went our way."
Australia got its fans back into the game with an 8-0 run early
in the second half, pulling to 45-38 on a 3-pointer by Kristi
Harrower with 17:33 left.
It was still close, 53-45, when Williams had five points and an
assist in a 7-0 run that restored the lead to 15. It was 60-45 with
10:54 left, and the Australians had fired their last shot. They
were never closer than 13 after that and the final margin matched
the United States' biggest lead.
When the Americans called time with 52.9 seconds left, the
players began hugging and exchanging high fives. They knew they had
done it.
"We worked really to keep that lead in the first half, and to
get out by 20 was even better than we thought," Katie Smith said.
"We knew they weren't going to go away. We all put a lot of work
and sacrifice into this."
Leslie and Williams led the United States with 15 points each.
Swoopes scored 14 and Griffith added 13 points and 12 rebounds. The
United States outrebounded Australia 48-27 and held the Aussies to
31 percent shooting.
Australia got a strong game from its 19-year-old center, Lauren
Jackson, who scored 20 points and blocked two of Leslie's shots.
But she had no help. Brondello, who had been averaging 12.6 points,
scored only two, going 1-for-8.
"I thought we could beat this team and I still do," Jackson
said. "The Americans played an awesome game and we didn't come out
firing."
The Australians suffered an additional setback when Harrower,
the starting point guard, turned her left foot with 14:27 left and
had to be helped from the floor, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She did not return.
The game was loosely called and players often banged into each
other with nothing called. Swoopes and Harrower jawed briefly as
they walked off the floor at halftime and the crowd booed when
Griffith and Michele Timms got tangled up near the U.S. basket and
tumbled to the floor.
But there were no further incidents and the game ended on a
peaceful, if disappointing note, for Australia, the bronze medalist
in the 1996 Atlanta Games.
There was even a humorous incident near the end when Leslie's
hair extension fell off. She picked it up and threw it into the
photographers' section and was smiling as she talked to Jackson at
the other end.
"They can have the hair," Leslie said. "We got the gold."
When it was over, Griffith rushed into the stands to hug her
daughter.
Staley grabbed the flag from Carter and draped it on her
shoulders as she paraded around the court, while the dejected
Australians stood in front of their bench.
Leslie also found a flag to wear and other players waved smaller
flags on sticks, DeLisha Milton strutting and gyrating as she waved
hers.
The players then did a lap around the court before going to
their dressing room, and Dawn Staley turned cartwheels.
It was a victory worth flipping over.
The gold medal concluded a challenging Olympics for the
Americans, who were tested in almost every game and had to rely on
their depth to wear down opponents in the second half.
And unlike 1996, when the U.S. team trained full time straight
through to the Olympics, this one had its time together interrupted
as the players went their separate ways this summer for the WNBA
season.
Then, with no time to catch their breath, they went right back
into training and had less than a month to regain their chemistry.
Swoopes, one of the key players in these games, did not join the
team until late August after helping the Houston Comets win their
fourth straight WNBA title.
The team also had to play without one of the game's brightest
young stars, Chamique Holdsclaw, who could not play in Sydney
because of a stress fracture in her right foot.
Yet coach Nell Fortner and her team overcame it all and claimed
their reward in gold.
"This one was hard," Leslie said. "Working six months before
the WNBA season, shortening the WNBA season, I'm ready to go
home."
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