July 05, 2015

Erica leads USA to victory over Italy

USA Women's Basketball defeated Italy 80-68 in the first game of the World University Games in Korea.

Erica did not wear glasses in the game. I don't know whether she's had surgery to correct her astigmatism or has found contact lenses that work for her, but she certainly had no trouble finding the basket. She shared top-scoring honors with Aerial Powers – 22 points – on eight of ten field goal attempts and six of nine free throws. And she collected 18 rebounds – ten of them O-boards.

Coach Joe McKeown said of Erica's effort, "Erica McCall was incredible. She just went after absolutely everything."

And Erica said:

On winning the first game of the tournament:
“It feels really great. We’ve been practicing for a while and going really hard, so it was great to finally get to play and to get this win. They were a really tough team and this was a great win for us.

On the offensive rebounds:
“Those were really important because they kept us motivated to keep pushing even though we weren’t making shots. Those offensive rebounds really boosted our energy.”

The USA next plays China on Monday at 1:30 am (PDT). The game will be televised on ESPNU.

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