Relying on a balanced scoring attack that saw five American womens score in double digits, the USA Basketball women’s team (1-0) opened its Pan American Games competition Friday afternoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a dominating 95-41 victory over Colombia (0-1).
Played at Rio Multipurpose Arena in front of a largely pro-Colombian crowd, the USA dominated from the start. Dashing out to a 17-4 advantage five minutes into the contest, the U.S. owned a commanding 18 point advantage, 32-14, after the first quarter.
The U.S. continued to roll in the second quarter and extended its lead to a 40 point advantage while taking a 63-23 lead to the locker room at the end of the second quarter.
In charge 78-35 after 30 minutes, Team USA posted its largest advantage – 55 points – in the fourth quarter of the contest and finally settle for the 95-41 victory. out-rebounded Colombia 50 to 27.
The USA shot 52.7 percent in the contest, hitting 39-of-74 field goals, including 11-of-21 3-pointers (.524). Forty-two of the team’s 95 points were scored in the paint and 19 recorded off of turnovers.
Mattee Ajavon (Rutgers / Newark, N.J.) paced the USA scoring with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, Tasha Humphrey (Georgia / Gainsville, Ga.) added 14 points and seven rebounds, Angel McCoughtry (Louisville / Baltimore, Md.) accounted for 12 points, while Charde’ Houston (Connecticut / San Diego, Calif.) recorded a double-double scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds and Candace Wiggins (Stanford / San Diego, Calif.), and also posted 10 points. Eleven of the 12 team members scored at least one field goal in the contest, including nine players with five-or-more points.
Alexis Hornbuckle (Tennessee / Charleston, W.Va.) led the squad with four assists and Jayne Appel (Stanford / Pleasant Hill, Calif.) led the team with four blocked shots.
“I think it was a great way for us to come out and start the Pan American Games,” said Humphrey. “I think everybody played well. We really played well as a team offensively and defensively.”
USA head coach Dawn Staley was likewise pleased with her team’s energy and overall performance. “We wanted to get up the floor as much as possible and play in transition and I thought we did that well,” said Staley. “I thought we shared the ball extremely well amongst each other and we played the type of defense that is our staple. We like to pressure the basketball and force you out of what you want to do and I thought our team did that extremely well.”
The United States is fielding the youngest squad in the eight-team tournament pool with an average age of 20.5 years. All 12 players on the American squad are 21 or under. Appel is the youngest player on the team at age 19 and Hornbuckle, the elder stateswoman on the team, will be the first to turn 22 on October 16.
Reflecting on their upcoming game against Argentina, Ajavon added, “From what I hear, they’re [Argentina] a tough team,” said the 21-year-old from Rutgers University. “I’m sure every team here has come to win the gold medal. We’re open-minded and we just want to play hard.”
“We don’t know a whole lot about Argentina. We’re going to scout the game tonight and we’ll be very well prepared for Argentina and the types of things they’ll likely do,” Staley added.
The USA squad will take on Argentina Saturday evening, July 21, at 7:45 p.m. (local time).
Note: Mel Thomas had 7 points off the bench in 17 minutes.
