Women's basketball wins, advances to gold-medal game

by Shannon Bertling on September 12, 2009

During pre-game warm-ups before the U.S. Women’s Basketball Team’s semifinal game against Lithuania on Saturday, tension was high and anticipation mounted with every passing minute. The Lithuanians looked sharp, and the house was full of eager fans rooting to see their team advance to the finals. After four long stretches of hot and cold shooting, the game ended with America edging the Lithuanians, 67-62, to advance to the gold-medal match Sunday. The game opened with two 3-pointers by Lithuanian forward Jurgita Navickaite, who made nine of the 18 points posted by Lithuania in the first quarter, and it took two full minutes before shooter Jennifer Decuir could score to bring the tally up to 6-3. The Lithuanians put up a solid zone defense and protected the hoop so that the U.S. struggled to get inside and score. As the end of the quarter drew near, the Americans were able to gain a small lead, 11-9, against the Lithuanians. However, the game continued neck-to-neck and the buzzer went off with the U.S. leading, 19-18. Both teams started the second quarter cold, but by the seven-minute mark, the Americans slowed down their game in order to pass better and shoot with accuracy. Within two minutes, this readjustment put them ahead, 29-22. Lithuania put four guards onto the floor, but instead of practicing perimeter shooting, the guards focused on drives to the basket. The Lithuanians didn’t have much difficulty getting into the paint but struggled to make their baskets. The U.S. grabbed 10 defensive rebounds and limited the Lithuanians to 10 points for the entire quarter while scoring 21 for themselves. At halftime, the score was 40-28. Lithuania came back from the locker room with every intention of making baskets and preventing the Americans from adding to their score. To open the third quarter, forward Shabnam Rampzour had to snake her way into the paint and finally made the first American basket at 9:30. The quarter did not see much offensive play from either side as five minutes passed and the score slowly reached 50-35. Then, the Lithuanians seemed to slowly gather energy and rushed to catch up as the clock wound down. With two minutes to go, the score stood at 50-38, and the Lithuanians rallied to even it, making 11 points before the quarter ended. Lithuania was able to force seven turnovers in the quarter and thrice defended the Americans so well that they were forced to throw the ball into the air before the shot clock went off. As the timer restarted to begin the fourth quarter, the score was 50-49 and the fans were brimming with excitement. Lithuania took the first basket and led the way into the quarter with a full-court press that put America in a choke hold. In their haste to regain the lead, the Americans dropped balls and failed to rebound offensive shots, which Lithuanians were able to convert into points. At seven minutes, the U.S. was down, 52-56. Then Bethany "Buffy" Hummel took control of the game's tempo, which helped America climb back into a 58-58 tie with four minutes to go. Both sides made errors in their hurry to get ahead, with missed shots and fumbled balls that were converted into points. Still, the score was upped to a 62-62 tie, and both teams were unwilling to call it quits just yet. In a post-game talk with a teammate, Moose said she was thinking at the time that they needed to get the ball to Ida Dotson and just watch the action unfold. Sure enough, with two minutes to go, the ball was dished to Dotson, who made the next two baskets. Hummel, who played a stellar game, also added to the score, and with 46 seconds to go, the score was 66-62. The final point came from Dotson's free-throw shot, and when the clock hit ten seconds, the Lithuanians appeared to accept their loss. They stood still on the court as the scoreboard read 67-62, watching the clock tick down and started congratulating the U.S. players for a game well fought. The Americans face their long-time rival, Sweden, in the championship round Sunday for the gold.

Women's basketball wins, advances to gold-medal game

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