U.S. Women’s Hoops Team Cruises Into Semis
ATHENS, Greece – The place and the opponent don’t really matter. This U.S. basketball team is on a roll. Hushing a boisterous crowd with its all-around domination, the United States advanced to the semifinals Wednesday with a 102-72 victory over Greece, which had heart, the home court and little else.
Now, only two games stand between the Americans and a third straight gold medal. They’ll play the winner of the Russia-Czech Republic game on Friday. The semifinal winners advance to the gold medal game on Saturday.
After playing their preliminary games in a small arena at the Helliniko complex on the coast, the teams moved to the spacious 19,250-seat Olympic Indoor Hall for the medal round. The Americans looked liked they belonged on the bigger stage.
Lisa Leslie and Yolanda Griffith dominated inside, Tina Thompson hit a succession of jumpers, Shannon Johnson had her best game of the tournament and Tamika Catchings was everywhere on both ends of the floor.
The passing was sharp, the defense quick and aggressive. By the middle of the second quarter, the United States was up by 20 and the Greek fans who made up most of the crowd of 8,100 started losing their zeal.
Even the “He-llas! He-llas!” chant began to wane and the crowd stopped booing whenever the United States had the ball, slipping into a state of quiet acceptance.
These U.S. players, the Greek fans discovered, are pretty darn good.
The Americans shot 57 percent in the first half and 50 percent for the game. If someone did miss a shot, it didn’t matter. Griffith, Leslie or Catchings got the rebound and scored on a putback.
Johnson scored 21 points, Thompson had 20, and there was much more after that. Griffith had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Diana Taurasi had 13 points, and Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes added 12 apiece. Leslie also had eight rebounds.
Final rebounding numbers: United States 44, Greece 22.
Catchings contributed with her hustle and outstanding defense on Evanthia Maltsi, who had been averaging 20.4 points. Maltsi finished with 15 points but hardly scored while the United States was taking control early.
Anastasia Kostaki led Greece with 26 points.
Unlike most of its previous games, the United States started fast and never let up. Thompson hit a turnaround jumper only 14 seconds into the game, then fed Leslie for a jump hook. Swoopes followed with a baseline jumper to make it 6-0, and the United States led the rest of the way.
Greece got the lead down to 19-17 on Maltsi’s 3 from the top of the key, but the United States broke away by ending the quarter with an 8-2 run, then scoring the first 10 points of the second quarter.
Taurasi started that burst with a 3-pointer and Griffith scored the next seven points on a stickback, a three-point play and a layup on a pass from Swoopes.
Johnson’s 3-pointer stretched the lead to 51-27 late in the half. Taurasi drew boos when she stole the ball late in the third quarter and passed to Thompson for a 3-pointer that kept the pressure on.