Wenshan, China – Tournament play opened in Wenshan as a short-handed NetScouts Basketball USA Women’s All-Star squad held Poland to 12 first half points and then cruised to a 14-point, 53-39, victory.
Despite some early second half struggles, which allowed Poland to crawl back within ten points, the USA’s team defense showed up again to finish out the game going away. It was quite a defensive effort as the USA held Poland to 26 percent shooting from the field and had a +21 (56-35) rebounding advantage while also forcing 18 turnovers.
The USA team was lead by 6’5 center Cierra Warren (San Diego State) who had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Deanna Weaver (Boise State) who approached a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. This is Warren’s second trip to China this summer representing her country in international competition with the USA All-Stars.
Ariel Thomas (Oregon) had a very solid game with 10 points and seven rebounds. Though Keena Mays (SMU) was limited to five points she continued to help spark the offense by dishing out four assists.
Stephanie Lee (Northern Colorado) had a solid game chipping in seven points and four rebounds also knocked down an early three-pointer to put the offense in gear. Alexys Vaioletama (USC) added only three points but showed great aggressiveness to the basket as she had four shots rim in-and-out, but was a major factor on the boards finishing with 11 rebounds.
It was a solid start by the USA team who only were able to play six players as Joy Burke (Arizona State) sat out with a knee injury and two other players, Liz Donohoe (Oklahoma State) and Ivory Crawford (Illinois), who were on the roster did not make the trip. The USA All-Stars will look to continue their stellar defense when facing a talented Denmark team tomorrow night.
Cierra Warren
In the earlier game, China bested Denmark 81-64 in a game that was closer than the score indicated. China was lead by Mengxin Sun with 18 points and Liting Zhang with 15 points. Denmark was paced by Maria Jespersen (South Florida) with 16 points – 12 of them coming in the final frame. Ida Tryggedsson added 14 points going 3-of-5 from the behind the arc.
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