October 1, 2010 - 3:19pm
Team USA was watching in the final minutes as previously undefeated Russia went down to defeat at the hands of fourth-seeded Belarus today. The lesson wasnt lost on the Americans.
We didnt want to start the game and not be ready, and not give 100 percent, said U.S. and University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma.
We knew we it didnt matter [who we were playing ], said Tamika Catchings. (Indiana Fever) Seeing what happened and knowing that if you don't come out ready to play straight from the beginning, it can have an effect on the whole game. Like coach said, for us we wanted to come out with a lot of energy right off the bat and everybody built off of that.
Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream) and Maya Moore (University of Connecticut senior) echoed the sentiment. We just know that looking today at the Russia-Belarus game, you can't just turn it on turn it off, you have to be prepared, said McCoughtry.
Something Coach told us in the locker room today, which was very true, was the fact that we've had our moments, our quarters, our halves, over periods of time we've played great, but we haven't really put together a whole game yet. That's what we were trying to do today, get one step forward, one step closer to putting together a complete game because that is what we are going to need down the stretch, Moore added.
And thats exactly what they did. Auriemma turned once again to Tina Charles (Connecticut Sun) and Candice Dupree (Phoenix Mercury) to round out his starting line-up of Catchings, Sue Bird (Seattle Storm) and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury). Charles won the opening tip and Catchings dropped it in at the opposite end to launch a 6-0 U.S. run over the first two minutes of the opening period. They never let up until the final buzzer sounded and the score stood, USA 106 - 44 Korea.
