San Antonio, Texas • March 30, 2002

Behind a stellar double-double performance of 30 points and 10 rebounds from Lisa Leslie, the 2002 USA Basketball Women's National Team routed the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) College All-Star squad 100-59 in an exhibition game this afternoon in front of 4,165 fans at the University of Texas - San Antonio's (UTSA) Convocation Center.

'I think we had good team chemistry out there, everyone had a lot of good energy,' said Leslie. 'We didn't know what to expect with the other team and playing with a different (smaller) ball today, but we adjusted well. We gave them a little too many rebounds in the first half, but we did a better job in the second half and took care of that. As for me, I thought I did a good job inside, coach said to pound it inside so I was able to get some good looks and a good variety of shots inside.'

The U.S. bench was bolstered by an 11-point performance from 2000 Olympic and 1998 World Championship gold medalist Katie Smith, who returned from Europe on March 29 and joined the team prior to its game. Smith will train with the USA through the remainder of its spring training.

'I thought we played really well,' said USA head coach Van Chancellor, a four time WNBA champion as the head coach of the Houston Comets. 'Our players had a lot of pride for the whole 40 minutes, we didn't let up so that's good. The biggest surprise for us was Katie Smith. She's been playing overseas with the big ball, has not practiced, got off of the plane today at 1:30, had not shot the small ball at all. She went out and shot
3-for-6, 11 points in 12 minutes, that's production. And Lisa, she was pretty good for us too.

'I really liked what I saw today, we played good together, we played hard. We shared the basketball, we shot the ball well. We came out here and played with the little ball (women's college basketball) and that didn't effect us at all. We played hard and played good. I really liked that, I liked everything about today. No let up and we played hard.'

The 2001 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year, Louisiana Tech's Ayana Walker won the opening tip for the collegians and helped her team to an early 2-0 lead 10 seconds into the game. But the advantage was short lived as Leslie scored seven points in an 11-2 United States run. Stanford's Lindsey Yamasaki, a gold medalist along with Walker on the 2001 USA World University games Team, nailed a 3-pointer at 7:20 to close the gap 11-7. But the USA squad's pressure defense forced two turnovers and a pair of missed shots, while its offense produced a 9-2 scoring run which put the lead into double digits, 20-9, with 4:05 to go in the opening quarter. By the end of the first 10 minutes the United States was up 27-11. Leslie, who tallied 23 points and nine rebounds in the first half, helped the USA to a 55-29 lead at the midway buzzer.

The second half saw the USA continue to widen the gap and Merlakia Jones, who was scheduled to train with the U.S. March 19-31 and will return home on Monday, left a strong impression after scoring 14 of the USA's final 18 points to close out the game with the USA on top 100-59. Jones also added five rebounds and three steals to go with her 14 points.

'I think I left with something positive. I've been struggling all week, but I've still tried to do the little things for us as far as playing defense, hustling, going after the rebounds. We have a lot of great scorers on this team and sometimes you need some people to get in there and be the hustler. And that's what I've tried to do. The opportunity came for me this afternoon and I took advantage of it.

In addition to her 30 points and 10 rebounds, Leslie added three assists, two blocks and four steals, Smith and Tamecka Dixon pitched in 11 points apiece and Sheryl Swoopes added 10 points and four assists. Tari Phillips grabbed a game high 12 rebounds to go with her six points and Shannon Johnson passed off for a team high tying four assists and scored nine points.

Baylor's Danielle Crockrum recorded team highs of 14 points and 10 rebounds.

'I thought [Danielle] Cockrum played pretty well,' added Chancellor on the WBCA All-Stars. 'Suzi [Klimesova] played good, [Nikki] Teasley played pretty well. They shot the ball well, they just didn't have an answer for us inside. They shot the ball well on the perimeter, they handled themselves well and I was impressed at how the (WBCA) College All-Stars played today. They played better than I thought they would play having had only one practice.'

The USA Basketball squad scored 44 points in the paint and received 31 points off of WBCA turnovers. The two squads were evenly matched on the boards as each grabbed 42, but the experienced U.S. squad shot 51.8 percent from the field, while its defense limited the collegians to just 28.6 percent.

The USA faced a WBCA All-Star Team once before, on April 1, 1996. The 1995-96 USA Basketball Women's National Team, which received 28 points and 13 rebounds from two-time Olympic gold medalist Leslie, defeated the 1996 WBCA All-Stars 92-57 at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

'You know, the plays are pretty simple, the team helped me out with them,' said Smith, who competed during the 2001-02 season for Lotos VBW Clima in Gdynia, Poland, helped her squad reach the EuroLeague Final Four (scheduled for April 26 -28), and joined the U.S. squad today. 'But it was fun. I really like this group, I like Van and it was fun to get out there and play a little bit. I felt decent, a little winded sometimes, but overall it was nice.'

USA team hopeful Tamika Catchings, who was originally scheduled to participate in the first half of the USA's March 19-April 10 training camp, will remain with the USA Women's National Team for the entire camp. Natalie Williams is in the process of rehabilitating from a strained left posterior tibialis and did not compete, while Chamique Holdsclaw was not at the game after returning home on March 29 to attend to family matters.

The USA team's spring training, which began March 19-24 in Houston, Texas, runs through April 10 and will see the Americans also train in New York, N.Y. April 2-4, and from April 5-10 in Colorado Springs, Colo., home to USA Basketball and the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

Chancellor is being assisted on the USA bench by three-time Olympian and current WNBA Charlotte Sting head coach Anne Donovan. His remaining assistant coaches will be announced by USA Basketball at a later date.

The 14th International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Championship for Women will feature national teams from 16 nations competing in nine cities in the People's Republic of China Sept. 14-25. The U.S. is slated to face in preliminary round play Russia on Sept. 14, Chinese Taipei on Sept. 15 and Lithuania on Sept. 16.

The United States, which earned the gold medal at the inaugural World Championship in 1953, earned its sixth gold medal with an unblemished 9-0 record in the 1998 World Championship in Germany. All told, the USA owns a 71-20 overall record (.780 winning percentage) in World Championship play and has won six golds, one silver and one bronze medal in the 12 previous FIBA World Championships in which the U.S. competed.

2002 USA BASKETBALL WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM vs. WBCA ALL-STARS ROSTER

BOX SCORE: USA vs. WBCA All-Stars