Texas Tech University Athletics
Grant Wins Gold Medal at World University Games
August 19, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Aug. 19, 2005
IZMIR, Turkey - Just as it did all tournament, the 2005 USA Women's World University Games Basketball Team dominated an overmatched opponent to claim the gold medal with a 79-53 win over Serbia & Montenegro on Friday in Izmir, Turkey. Outscoring its opponents by 43.4 ppg. and shooting a stellar 56.2 percent from the field, the gold is the USA's sixth and 13th overall medal in World University Games action.
Texas Tech's Erin Grant has two points and an assist in the win for the USA.
"I am so happy," said USA and Harvard University (Mass.) head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. "This is a talented team that was supposed to win the gold and that doesn't always go as planned. This is a who's-who in division one college basketball. People were teasing me along the way, saying you better win or it's bad coaching. We played so strong all the way through it would have been a shame and a huge disappointment not to walk away with the gold."
Seimone Augustus (Baton Rouge, La./LSU) finished as the game's high scorer with 18 points and also nabbed eight steals. Lisa Willis (Long Beach, Calif./UCLA) notched 13 points, including 10 in the first half, and Sylvia Fowles (Miami, Fla./LSU) posted 12 to go along with seven rebounds. Fowles ended as the USA's top scorer in the Games, scoring at 15.0 ppg. clip, followed by college teammate Augustus with a 14.2 ppg. average.
"I think Serbia is a talented, tough, deep enough team also so I knew this game was going to be different from the others," said Delaney-Smith. "Serbia is multi-dimensional, they have many ways to score. To prepare for that kind of team with that many sets in a short period of time, I'm very happy with what we did."
After Marina Puska put Serbia & Montenegro on the board first at the 9:08 mark in the first quarter, Cappie Pondexter (Chicago, Ill/Rutgers) made a jumper 20 seconds later to spark at 10-0 U.S. run capped by Augustus' breakaway layup with 4:56 remaining in the first to put to the red, white and blue on top 10-2.
Serbia & Montenegro reeled off four-straight points of its own before Fowles hit one-of-two free throws and Augustus nailed a jumper to give the Americans a 13-6 advantage with 2:23 on the clock in the opening frame. Two free throws from Natasa Popovic decreased the U.S. lead to 13-8 at the 1:39 mark but Augustus connected on a jumper as time expired in the first to put the Americans ahead 15-8 at the end of one.
Erin Grant (Arlington, Texas/Texas Tech) found Liz Shimek (Empire, Mich./Michigan State) for a jumper just 25 seconds into the second quarter to increase the U.S. lead to nine, 17-8. After Augustus hit a jumper off a feed from Shimek at the 8:36 mark in the second stanza, Serbia & Montenegro's Neda Djuric and Willis traded 3-pointers on four consecutive possessions to bring the score to 22-16 with 6:21 remaining in the first half.
The USA's advantage jumped to 13 points, 29-16, after Augustus made a driving layup and Willis hit a jumper with 5:19 left. Five-straight points from Serbia & Montenegro brought the U.S. lead back under double-digits, 29-20, but Monique Currie (Washington, D.C./Duke) scored five points in a 7-0 American run with 2:37 left in the first half for a 36-20 USA lead. Willis closed scoring in the first half when she made a spinning layup with 36 seconds on the clock, sending the U.S. into the locker room comfortably on top 43-28.
"Anytime you play for a gold medal, you have to bring your "A" game," said Augustus. "We knew that Serbia was going to fight through the whole game. We just did what we had to do and coach made a few adjustments to get our post players more involved." The USA stayed in control and increased its lead in the second half, building the lead to 64-45 at the end of the third quarter and outscored Serbia & Montenegro 15-8 in the fourth quarter. For the game, the U.S. shot 52 percent from the floor and grabbed 22 steals off 29 Serbia & Montenegro turnovers.
"I can't even express how I feel right now," said Fowles. "I was very excited for us as a team because of what we went through as a team. It was a good feeling to tell the truth. Everyone is so talented and we just motivated each other."
"This is euphoria, it's basketball heaven," said Delaney-Smith. "We have the best players in the country and what's great about coaching them is that they're unselfish. That was the question mark and they couldn't have achieved more in that regard. I love them, they were awfully fun to coach."
Delaney-Smith was assisted on the sidelines by collegiate head coaches Pokey Chatman of Louisiana State University and Cathy Inglese of Boston College (Mass.).
In its seven games, the U.S. scored 97.7 ppg. and dominated the battle of the boards with a plus-24.7 margin.
Courtesy of USA Basketball - for more infomation log onto www.usabasketball.com
