USA Wins Opals World Challenge
9/10/2002 11:59:23 AM | Women's Basketball
SYDNEY, Australia - The 2002 USA Basketball World Championship Team captured the Opals World Challenge championship with a 54-45 win versus Australia on Tuesday, September 10. SU head coach Marianna Freeman is an assistant coach for Team USA.
Sheryl Swoopes (Houston Comets) was named the tournament's MVP after averaging 15.5 points in four games. In addition, Shannon Johnson (Orlando Miracle) was the Most Valuable Defensive Player of the tournament.
“I thought we played well tonight with the 10 players we had,” said USA and Houston Comets head coach Van Chancellor. “I was really pleased with their effort. They gave a great defensive effort, especially going up against players like (Lauren) Jackson, (Kristi) Harrower, (Penny) Taylor, they’re all really good. As talented as Australia is, I was pleased at how well we limited their shots. They shot 28 percent, which is very unlike them. They usually shoot the lights out. We had a hand in their face in every shot, we really denied the ball well. We also outrebounded them better tonight than we did the other night (against Australia in the preliminary round).”
The U.S. finished the tournament 4-0. The team will now move on to the 2002 FIBA World Championship being held in China on Seeptember 14-25. The U.S. will face Russia at 9:30 p.m. ET on September 14 in Zhangjiagang, China.
For more information about the 2002 USA Basketball World Championship game, including stats from the Opals World Challenge, visit www.usabasketball.com.
