2002 USA Women's Senior National Team - Australia Opals World Challenge

Date:

Jun 10, 2010

Newcastle & Sydney, Australia • September 6-10, 2004

The 2002 USA Basketball Women's World Championship Team defeated three of the world's top five teams at the 2002 Opals World Challenge in Australia in a warm-up to the 2002 FIBA World Championship.

Defeating 2000 Olympic silver medalist Australia in the preliminary round and championship game of the Aussie-hosted Opals World Challenge, the United States also downed 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Brazil and 2000 fifth place finisher France during the Sept. 6-10 tournament.

The United States, which went undefeated with a 4-0 record at the Opals World Challenge, finished ahead of second place Australia (2-2), third place Brazil (2-2) and fourth place France (0-4). Averaging 67.8 points a game, the United States had the highest scoring average among the four teams, while also owning the largest scoring margin (16.3 ppg.), highest field goal (.408) and 3-point field goal percentage (.368) and held opponents to the lowest scoring average (51.5 ppg.).

Sheryl Swoopes earned tournament MVP honors after averaging 15.5 points and 2.5 steals an outing to pace all competitors. She also averaged a tournament second best 2.0 assists and shot a second best 50.0 percent from the field and was the third highest 3-point shooter after making 45.5 percent of her shots from afar. Shannon Johnson collected the award as the top defender of the tournament and trailed only Swoopes in steals, averaging 2.3 a game. She also ranked fourth in assists (3.3 apg.) and sixth in scoring (9.3 ppg.). Additionally, 2002 WNBA Rookie of the Year Tamika Catchings listed tied for seventh in scoring (8.5 ppg.), tied with Brazil's Janeth Arcain in rebounding (6.0 rpg.), tied for third in steals (1.5 spg.) and shot a tournament fourth best 46.9 percent from the field.

Opening play on Sept. 6 in Newcastle, Australia, the U.S. collected 18 and 13 points from Swoopes and Catchings, respectively, in 73-60 victory over Brazil. Taking on Australia on Sept. 7 in a rematch of the 2000 Olympic gold medal game, the USA again came out on top, 84-55, after Johnson exploded off the bench for 20 points. Moving the tournament to the Sydney Olympic Park, the Americans closed out preliminary round play on Sept. 9 with a 60-46 win over France. Swoopes and Katie Smith scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, to lead the USA in scoring. After earning the right to play for the 2002 Opals World Challenge title, the United States collected the crown with the help of 19 points from Swoopes in a 54-45 victory over host Australia on Sept. 10.

2002 USA BASKETBALL WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER
-- Opals World Challenge --

NAME	POS	HGT	WGT	AGE	WNBA TEAM	SCHOOL	HOMETOWN
Sue Bird	G	5-9	150	21	Seattle Storm	Connecticut '02	Syosset, NY
Tamika Catchings	F	6-0	166	22	Indiana Fever	Tennessee '01	Duncanville, TX
Tamecka Dixon	G	5-9	148	26	Los Angeles Sparks	Kansas '97	Linden, NJ
Jennifer Gillom	F/C	6-3	180	38	Phoenix Mercury	Mississippi '86	Abbeville, MS
Shannon Johnson	G	5-7	144	28	Orlando Miracle	South Carolina '96	Hartsville, SC
Lisa Leslie	C	6-5	170	30	Los Angeles Sparks	USC '94	Hawthorne, CA
DeLisha Milton	F	6-1	172	27	Los Angeles Sparks	Florida '97	Riceboro, GA
Katie Smith	G	5-11	181	28	Minnesota Lynx	Ohio State '96	Logan, OH
Dawn Staley	G	5-6	134	32	Charlotte Sting	Virginia '92	Philadelphia, PA
Sheryl Swoopes	G/F	6-0	145	31	Houston Comets	Texas Tech '93	Brownfield, TX
Tina Thompson	F	6-2	178	27	Houston Comets	USC ï¿½97	Los Angeles, CA
Natalie Williams	F	6-2	217	31	Utah Starzz	UCLA '94	Taylorsville, UT
Head Coach: Van Chancellor, Houston Comets
Assistant Coach: Anne Donovan, Charlotte Sting
Assistant Coach: Marianna Freeman, Syracuse University (N.Y.)
Assistant Coach: Gail Goestenkors, Duke University (N.C.)
Team Physician: Dave Walden, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Athletic Trainer: Missy Leget, Houston Comets

2002 AUSTRALIA OPALS WORLD CHALLENGE RESULTS (4-0)

Newcastle, Australia		Final Standings
Sept. 6	USA 73, Brazil 60	1. USA (4-0) 2. Australia (2-2) 3. Brazil (2-2) 4. France (0-4)
	Australia 75, France 61
Sept. 7	Brazil 73, France 65
	USA 84, Australia 55
Homebush Bay, Australia
Sept. 9	USA 60, France 46
	Australia 62, Brazil 45
Sept. 10	Consolation Game: Brazil 59, France 56
	Championship Game: USA 54, Australia 45

2002 USA BASKETBALL WOMEN'S SENIOR NATIONAL TEAM RESULTS

OPP	DATE	SCORE	W/L	POINTS	REBOUNDS	ASSISTS
BRA	9/6	73-60	W	Swoopes-18	Catchings, Milton, Phillips, Williams - 5	Johnson-6
AUS	9/7	84-55	W	Johnson - 20	Leslie - 13	Staley - 5
FRA	9/9	60-46	W	Swoopes - 11	Catchings - 8	Bird, Johnson, Swoopes - 2
AUS	9/10	54-45	W	Swoopes - 19	Swoopes - 8	Catchings, Johnson, Swoopes - 2

2002 USA BASKETBALL WOMEN'S SENIOR NATIONAL TEAM • OPALS WORLD CHALLENGE CUMULATIVE STATISTICS

NAME	G/S	FGM-FGA	PCT	3PM-3PA	PCT	FTM-FTA	PCT	REB/AVG	AST	BLK	STL	PTS/AVG
Swoopes	4/4	27- 54	.500	5- 11	.455	3- 6	.500	17/ 4.3	6	8	10	62/ 15.5
Johnson	4/2	12- 31	.387	6- 14	.429	7- 10	.700	11/ 2.8	13	2	9	37/ 9.3
Catchings	4/4	15- 32	.469	3- 10	.300	1- 5	.200	24/ 6.0	7	3	6	34/ 8.5
Smith	4/4	8- 25	.320	2- 9	.222	4- 5	.800	11/ 2.8	4	1	2	22/ 5.5
Milton-Jones	4/2	8- 26	.308	0- 1	.000	5- 7	.714	21/ 5.3	2	2	4	21/ 5.3
Leslie	2/2	7- 18	.389	0- 2	.000	4- 6	.667	17/ 8.5	0	2	1	18/ 9.0
Staley	2/2	6- 8	.750	4- 5	.800	2- 2	1.000	0/ 0.0	9	0	1	18/ 9.0
Dixon	4/0	7- 19	.368	0- 1	.000	1- 4	.250	3/ 0.8	4	2	2	15/ 3.8
Phillips	4/0	7- 17	.412	0- 0	.000	1- 3	.333	20/ 5.0	2	6	4	15/ 3.8
Bird	4/0	6- 16	.375	1- 4	.250	0- 0	.000	5/ 1.3	4	0	1	13/ 3.3
Williams	4/0	3- 11	.273	0- 0	.000	3- 4	.750	20/ 5.0	1	1	3	9/ 2.3
Gillom	4/0	3- 10	.300	0- 0	.000	1- 2	.500	11/ 2.8	0	0	2	7/ 1.8
TEAM								15
USA	4	109- 267	.408	21- 57	.368	32- 54	.593	175/ 43.8	52	27	45	271/ 67.8
Opp.	4	71- 223	.318	11- 39	.282	53- 78	.679	161/ 40.3	39	12	19	206/ 51.5