BEIJING, China — Sylvia Fowles scored 20 points and pulled down 16 rebounds to help lead the USA Basketball Women’s National Team to an 86-61 victory over China in the final preliminary game at the 2008 Good Luck Beijing Tournament on Thursday.
Fowles collected her third double double in five games with Team USA on 9-of-14 shooting and a perfect 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
Fowles also blocked three shots and recorded one assist and one steal to go along with her 20-point, 16-rebound effort. For the first time since the opening game of the tournament, Fowles did not lead the U.S. in scoring as fellow post player Lisa Leslie scored a game high 26 points.
With the win, USA (4-1) moved into a tie for first place with China (4-1), which the U.S. will face again in the Gold Medal game Saturday at 7 a.m. CDT.
Once again NBA TV will air the game live as well as at 3 p.m. CDT.
Sylvia Fowles Quotes
The USA has possibly the strongest inside game of the tournament. What was China doing to try and combat that?
“They tried to double- and triple-team us in the post. We utilized our quickness and the high-low with the post players or just kicked it back out. Most of the time they just tried to double- or triple-team us in the post.”
You and the rest of the team defeated China by a point in the paint – 62 points in the paint to China’s 61 points overall – what does that say about the strength of the USA’s post play?
“That you have to utilize it. Everybody has strength in their post, but our posts are something special. Just to have the opportunity to use that, to realize what we have, it says a lot.”
Are you having fun out here?
“Oh yeah, I think I’m having too much fun playing with these guys. I’m definitely enjoying it!”
You have the gold medal game against China in two days. What do you expect to see from them?
“Pretty much the same thing. They’ll probably work on some things they didn’t do so well. For the most part you can’t relax. They’re a team that won’t go away even if they’re down by 15. You have to maintain your focus and be ready for everything that they throw at you.”