By Ryan O'Neil
Correspondent
Fans of Cuba's women's basketball team should hope that the team was holding something in reserve for the Olympics if they wish to beat USA. Some players. A defensive strategy. Something. Anything.
The USA Women's National Team throroughly dominated the game, a preview of their first game in Atlanta, and won 106-58 before a disappointing turnout at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
Cuba stayed close in the early minutes of the game, pulling to within one on a putback, but they never drew as close again. At that point, the United States went on a 17-4 run that finished up with a fast break basket scored by Ruthie Bolton on a terrific pass from Dawn Staley, to make the score 26-13. The result of the game from this point onward would not be in question - the only remaining question was how many spectacular plays would this collection of talent make. The answer, of course, was many. From Rebecca Lobo making two blocks in quick succession to a long Katy Steding three to Sheryl Swoopes finishing the break, there was no shortage of sights to behold.
Of more long-term interest was Venus Lacy's first action as the team's temporary twelth player, and she played well. She provided a definite physical presence in the paint, scoring often on putbacks and passes from the high post. This allowed for other players to play outside.
However, it was apparent that she had not worked out with the team for very long. Dawn Staley was frequently yelling instructions her to set a pick or guard a certain player on defense. This is certain to happen with any player who is added at this point, and makes a good case for putting all eleven players currently on the National Team on the Oympic Team.
Lacy also appeared to be at least one or two steps slower down the court than her teammates, which is not necessarily a statement about her own speed, but might in fact be a testament to the team speed and conditioning already possessed by the rest of the team.
The USA worked well on the fastbreak, scoring a boatload of easy baskets against a visibly slower Cuba team.
Staley, while at times attempting to do a little too much when a simpler pass would have sufficed, was brillant the rest of the time, astounding the crowd with her many no look and look away passes. While not a true point guard, Teresa Edwards played well at that position as well.
One area of concern was an injury to Jennifer Azzi at the end of the first half. She received an inadvertant elbow to the face while going for a rebound and left the game, not to return to action, although she did come out with the team at the half and sat on the bench for the remainder of the game.
While a busy day in professional sports, with two major auto races, three golf tournaments, NBA and NHL playoffs, and the usual myriad of baseball games on television on this Sunday afternoon, the crowd was still disappointing. It was announced at more than four thousand fans. Perhaps a few thousand fans purchased tickets and chose to spend the gorgeous day outside. With the Providence Civic Center a two hour drive, at the most, for half of Connecticut, one would have expected the Huskymaniacs to be a little more visible. One cannot be sure what this means for the Hartford/Springfield ABL team, but it would difficult to make it sound like good news.
