1976 FIBA WOMEN'S OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada • June 22 - July 3, 1976
The first women's Olympic basketball tournament was held in 1976, and the United States women wanted to go to the very exclusive party their neighbors to the north were hosting.
|
|
1976 USA RESULTS (5-0)
1976 OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT FINAL STANDINGS
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Canada, as host country, was assured of a berth in the historic Olympic women's basketball event. The Soviet Union, Japan and Czechoslovakia, winners of the World Championship gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively, in 1975, each took one of the six Olympic slots.
That left two more entries to be filled.
The United States headed to Ontario looking to claim one of those coveted berths at the 1976 Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament with the team that would eventually capture the silver medal at the Games in Montreal.
In all, nine nations participated in the pre-Olympic tournament, and the U.S. was placed in a preliminary round pool along with France, Mexico and Poland.
Ripping through its first contest for an 80-57 victory over Mexico, the USA defeated France 71-59 and closed out preliminary play with an 84-66 trouncing of Poland.
The USA and Poland, with a 2-1 record, advanced from Group A to the final round. In Group B, which included Bulgaria, Cuba, Great Britain, Italy and South Korea, there was a three-way tie atop the standings as Bulgaria, Cuba and South Korea had identical 3-1 records. By virtue of FIBA's tie-breaking formula Bulgaria and Cuba headed to the final round to face the United States and Poland.
In round robin play, which saw the USA-Poland and Bulgaria-Cuba scores from the preliminary round count toward the final round standings, the U.S. downed Cuba 89-73 with the help of 14 points apiece from Pat Head and Patricia Roberts and 12 from Lusia Harris. In its final contest the USA clipped Bulgaria 76-75 to remain undefeated and claim the gold medal.
The final 1976 Olympic berth came down to another tie-breaker as the three remaining teams held 1-2 marks in the final round. However, based on point differential, Bulgaria narrowly edged out the other nations for the silver medal and went on to claim bronze in Montreal.
The USA's gold medal performance at the pre-Olympic qualifier gave the Americans, all of whom were on the '76 U.S. Olympic Team, some valuable training time and the experience necessary to capture the 1976 Olympic silver medal.
1976 USA WOMEN'S OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TEAM ROSTER
| NAME |
POS
|
HGT
|
WGT
|
AGE
|
SCHOOL | HOMETOWN |
| Cindy Brogdon |
F
|
5-10
|
155
|
19
|
Tennessee | Buford, GA |
| Nancy Dunkle |
C
|
6-2
|
155
|
21
|
California State Fullerton | Fullerton La Habra, CA |
| Lusia Harris |
F
|
6-2
|
180
|
21
|
Delta State | Minter City, MS |
| Pat Head |
F
|
5-10
|
155
|
24
|
Tennessee-Martin | Ashland City, TN |
| Charlotte Lewis |
C
|
6-2
|
180
|
20
|
Illinois State | Peoria, IL |
| Nancy Lieberman |
F
|
5-9
|
140
|
18
|
Far Rockaway High School |
Far Rockaway, NY |
| Gail Marquis |
F
|
5-11
|
165
|
21
|
Queens College | St. Albans, NY |
| Ann Meyers |
G
|
5-8
|
135
|
20
|
UCLA | La Habra, CA |
| Mary Anne O'Conner |
G
|
5-10
|
158
|
23
|
Southern Connecticut State | Fairfield, CT |
| Patricia Roberts |
F
|
6-1
|
150
|
21
|
Tennessee | Monroe, GA |
| Sue Rojcewicz |
G
|
5-7
|
135
|
22
|
Southern Connecticut State | Worcester, MA |
| Juliene Simpson |
G
|
5-6
|
156
|
23
|
John F. Kennedy College | Roselle Park, NJ |
| HEAD COACH: Billie Moore, Cal State University, Fullerton | ||||||
| ASSISTANT COACH: Sue Gunter, Stephen F. Austin University (TX) | ||||||
| MANAGER: Jeanne Rowlands, Northeastern University (MA) | ||||||
| ATHLETIC TRAINER: Gail Weldon, Western Illinois University | ||||||
1976 USA WOMEN'S OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TEAM CUMULATIVE STATISTICS
| |
G | FGM-FGA | PCT | FTM-FTA | PCT | REB/AVG | PTS/AVG | AST | STL |
| USA TOTALS | 5 | |
|
|
|
|
400/ 80.0 | |
|
| OPP. TOTALS | 5 | |
|
|
|
|
330/ 66.0 | |
|
NOTES: Statistics are unavailable for the 1976 USA Olympic Qualifying Team.
