July 31, 2009

USA marches on to semifinals

The USA fell behind France by eight points in the first half of their quarterfinal game, then rallied to defeat them 88-75. As Nneka put it, "We tied it up and busted it out in the third and fourth quarters."

Nneka shared top scoring honors (16 points) with Skylar Diggins. She was one rebound short of another double-double.

Here is the game report, box score, quotes and photos (later today) from USA Basketball, complete statistics from FIBA and game report with photos from FIBA.

The big news of the day at the tournament was Canada's 50-49 upset of Australia. The Canadian U19 team had never advanced as far as the quarterfinals before, and Australia was undefeated and ranked #1. The USA has less than a day to prepare for this unexpected semifinal opponent, but the two teams met earlier in the second round.

The USA team took time after practice yesterday for a tour of Bangkok. Here is a photo gallery.

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