Zhoushan, China – The NetScouts Basketball Women’s USA All-Stars won their third straight game defeating a tough China team in overtime 79-71 in Zhoushan tonight. Utah’s Danielle Rodriguez led a balanced USA attack with 14 points.
Despite a slow start, shooting 18 percent in the first quarter and 28 percent for the first half, the USA All-Stars used defense and rebounding to pull away from China in overtime. The Americans couldn’t complain about the shots in the first quarter, they just couldn’t find the bottom of the net. China used the same quarter to get out to an 18-10 lead. In the second quarter, Marquelle Dent (Wyoming) and Lexi Peterson (Oregon) helped the team claw back into it and the USA All-Stars only trailed by six points going into halftime.
The Americans made minor coaching moves heading into the second half, by turning up the pressure along with changing defenses to confuse China. USA mixed a lot of zone, press and man to help force bad China shots leading to easy transition points. The Americans outscored China in the third quarter 21-11 and took a four-point lead heading into the final period. China was able to settle in and outscore the USA by four in the final period forcing the game into overtime. Stephanie Lee (Northern Colorado) scored four critical points in overtime to help the USA All-Stars dominate China 10-2 in the extra period.
Balanced scoring from a talented group of players contributed to the USA remaining undefeated during the 2016 Atlas International Youth women’s basketball tournament. Rodriguez scored eight of her team-high14 points in the important third quarter. Peterson and Lee each scored 10 points with Lee pulling down eight rebounds. Nine points were scored by Dent and Shelby Cheslek (Gonzaga) with Cheslek leading the team with nine rebounds. Cheslek added a crushing 30-foot 3-pointer as the shot clock ran out during the middle of overtime that deflated the China squad. Brittany Crain (UC Riverside), Taila Walton (Washington) and Kaylon Williams (Oklahoma) all had eight points with Walton and Williams each having seven rebounds. Jazmine Perkins (Washington State) finished out a solid effort with three points, five rebounds and three steals. For the second straight game, Jamie Patrick (Colorado State) sat out for precautionary reasons after taking a blow to her face from a teammate during the first game against Australia.
For China, Kexin Song and Liwen Liang led the way 13 points each, Saiqi Jia and Tianyu Zhang both scored 11 points and Yu Tang added 10.
The USA All-Stars now are undefeated at 3-0 as all the teams head to the final city of Jiahe. Tomorrow is a travel day. Australia and Lithuania played the late game tonight and we’re still waiting for the results from that game.
NetScouts Basketball USA All-Stars
Dani Rodriguez
Marquelle Dent (Wyoming) 9 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds, 1 steal
Danielle Rodriguez (Utah) 14 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
Lexi Petersen (Oregon) 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
Brittany Crain (UC Riverside) 8 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Jaime Patrick (Colorado State) DNP
Jazmine Perkins (Washington State/Finland) 3 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals
Stephanie Lee (Northern Colorado/Germany) 10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal
Talia Walton (Washington) 8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block
Kaylon Williams (Oklahoma) 8 points, 7 rebounds
Shelby Cheslek (Gonzaga) 9 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block
Thanks to Ryan Johnson and David Huss for their reports from China.
Information on NetScouts Basketball can be obtained here. Detailed articles on the tour will be found on the NetScouts Basketball Blog. Email carl@netscoutbasketball.com to get on the mailing list for tour related articles, information and photos
