University of Minnesota Athletics
U.S. Women's Basketball Wins Second Exhibition
7/16/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Brazilian team jumped to a 12-4 lead to start the game. The U.S. struggled out of the blocks, missing five of their first seven shots, and prompting U.S. head coach Marsha Sharp into subbing for her entire starting lineup. The move brought Minnesota's All-America guard Li ndsay Whalen (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson) on to the court. Whalen and her U.S. teammates countered the Brazilian attack with an 11-5 run to pull the U.S. back to within a bucket by the end of the first quarter. The play of Sharp's second unit brought praise from the head coach.
"I think we competed really well," said Sharp. "I was really proud of the way they got down and had enough confidence in themselves to come back, play well and handle that adversity a little bit. That's the mark of a good basketball team and they really haven't played a long time together, but they have a lot of confidence in each other. We had to try a couple of different combinations tonight. We had to make ourselves a little more athletic and be a little bit more concerned about the defensive end in transition early in the game. We made some adjustments with personnel that allowed us to do that. They did a nice job of handling that, coming in, and really getting us back in the game in the middle of the first quarter and I was really proud of that."
The first quarter run provided the momentum for the U.S. squad to tally 17 unanswered points to begin the second period. A fired-up U.S. defense forced Brazil into 12 missed shots and seven turnovers during that span. Brazil finally snapped its scoring drought with 2:42 left in the first half, and the U.S. held a 38-25 lead at intermission.
Brazil fought back in the third quarter, closing to within 46-40, but the U.S. answered with an 11-5 spurt to end the period to build a 57-45 lead. The 12-point lead heading in to the final quarter would end up to be crucial, as the U.S. managed to score just nine points in the final quarter.
Three U.S. players finished in double figures led by Georgia's Kara Brown Braxton, who scored 18 points and added 10 rebounds. Kansas State's Nichole Ohlde posted a double-double as well with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Louisiana Tech's Amber Obaze added 10 points.
Whalen played 12 minutes off the bench for the U.S. and scored three points. She also was credited with three steals.
