LONDON — It was 20 years ago Tuesday that the U.S. women's basketball team started teaching the world to play.
And with apologies for taking liberties with the Beatles' lyrics, the U.S. has been doing it for quite a while.
Team USA's dominant 91-48 quarterfinal victory over Canada extended to 39 an Olympic winning streak that indeed began Aug. 7, 1992 — when the U.S. beat Cuba in the bronze-medal game — and set up a semifinal matchup with familiar foe Australia.
The U.S. has defeated Australia in the gold-medal game at the last three Olympics. In other words, as Lennon and McCartney might say, get back to where you once belonged.
"Playing them earlier than the gold-medal game will be interesting," Tamika Catchings said. "But it will probably be played like a gold-medal game."
The victory over Canada looked more like an early pool-play game because of Team USA's dominance. Suffocating defense forced turnovers on Canada's first four possessions and 26 overall, which led to 33 points.
With Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and several others from the men's team looking on, about the only suspense centered on how many women would score in double figures. Diana Taurasi's 15 points led five in double figures. Two others narrowly missed with nine points.
"The one thing we have to continue to focus on is getting better every game," Catchings said. "This was a great game, but we can still play better offensively and defensively. I know you're saying, 'Yeah, right.' But we can."
The U.S. jumped to a 19-4 lead, added a 16-0 second-half run and kept adding style points late in the fourth on Lindsay Whalen's pretty alley-oop to Maya Moore. Coach Geno Auriemma said after a previous easy victory over China that Moore's presence in the starting lineup could be fueling Candace Parker, who is coming off the bench.
Parker shrugged off such talk as she wore an ice pack on her left ankle afterward. Her 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists in just 13 minutes, 27 seconds showcased her myriad skills.
"My ankle is OK," she said. "I tweaked it a little bit, but it's nothing that will keep me out. And I don't think (not starting) changes who I am. If (Auriemma) thinks I'm angry and play better angry, he's the coach and knows what he wants to do."
Parker also downplayed any suggestions that multiple blowouts could lead to complacency as the U.S. seeks an unprecedented fifth straight gold medal. The U.S. has won its six games by an average margin of 37.7 points.
"All of us have been in this situation before, whether it be on our college teams or WNBA teams or even with the USA national team," Parker said. "We know what we came here for we haven't accomplished yet. So we have to continue to fight.
"Even against Canada, we learned a lot about ourselves in that if we bring defensive pressure like we did, a lot of teams will have trouble."
Meanwhile, Auriemma kept his edge, insisting the lack of attention on the historic streak didn't bother him while simultaneously playing up the no-respect angle.
"The big story is if we don't play well and win by a couple or get beat," Auriemma said. "We played a game for the ages against China in terms of how we executed, and there wasn't one sentence written about that game the next day in (a certain major international paper).
"We have one slogan: Earn the respect of your teammates, your coaching staff and your opponent. Other than that, we could care less if anybody else respects what we're doing."
kcjohnson@tribune.com
Twitter @kcjhoop
And with apologies for taking liberties with the Beatles' lyrics, the U.S. has been doing it for quite a while.
Team USA's dominant 91-48 quarterfinal victory over Canada extended to 39 an Olympic winning streak that indeed began Aug. 7, 1992 — when the U.S. beat Cuba in the bronze-medal game — and set up a semifinal matchup with familiar foe Australia.
The U.S. has defeated Australia in the gold-medal game at the last three Olympics. In other words, as Lennon and McCartney might say, get back to where you once belonged.
"Playing them earlier than the gold-medal game will be interesting," Tamika Catchings said. "But it will probably be played like a gold-medal game."
The victory over Canada looked more like an early pool-play game because of Team USA's dominance. Suffocating defense forced turnovers on Canada's first four possessions and 26 overall, which led to 33 points.
With Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and several others from the men's team looking on, about the only suspense centered on how many women would score in double figures. Diana Taurasi's 15 points led five in double figures. Two others narrowly missed with nine points.
"The one thing we have to continue to focus on is getting better every game," Catchings said. "This was a great game, but we can still play better offensively and defensively. I know you're saying, 'Yeah, right.' But we can."
The U.S. jumped to a 19-4 lead, added a 16-0 second-half run and kept adding style points late in the fourth on Lindsay Whalen's pretty alley-oop to Maya Moore. Coach Geno Auriemma said after a previous easy victory over China that Moore's presence in the starting lineup could be fueling Candace Parker, who is coming off the bench.
Parker shrugged off such talk as she wore an ice pack on her left ankle afterward. Her 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists in just 13 minutes, 27 seconds showcased her myriad skills.
"My ankle is OK," she said. "I tweaked it a little bit, but it's nothing that will keep me out. And I don't think (not starting) changes who I am. If (Auriemma) thinks I'm angry and play better angry, he's the coach and knows what he wants to do."
Parker also downplayed any suggestions that multiple blowouts could lead to complacency as the U.S. seeks an unprecedented fifth straight gold medal. The U.S. has won its six games by an average margin of 37.7 points.
"All of us have been in this situation before, whether it be on our college teams or WNBA teams or even with the USA national team," Parker said. "We know what we came here for we haven't accomplished yet. So we have to continue to fight.
"Even against Canada, we learned a lot about ourselves in that if we bring defensive pressure like we did, a lot of teams will have trouble."
Meanwhile, Auriemma kept his edge, insisting the lack of attention on the historic streak didn't bother him while simultaneously playing up the no-respect angle.
"The big story is if we don't play well and win by a couple or get beat," Auriemma said. "We played a game for the ages against China in terms of how we executed, and there wasn't one sentence written about that game the next day in (a certain major international paper).
"We have one slogan: Earn the respect of your teammates, your coaching staff and your opponent. Other than that, we could care less if anybody else respects what we're doing."
kcjohnson@tribune.com
Twitter @kcjhoop
