2004 Olympics: Basketball

08:58 PM CDT on Friday, August 27, 2004

By BRAD TOWNSEND / The Dallas Morning News

ATHENS, Greece – Clinging to a 60-58 lead over Russia, its 23-game Olympic winning streak in jeopardy and gold medal hopes at risk, the U.S. women's basketball team turned to a player who had yet to score from the field.

Fortunately for the Americans, the player was Sheryl Swoopes, so it wasn't a blind leap of faith.

Back-to-back baskets by the former Texas Tech star ignited a 6-0 run that propelled the United States to a 66-62 semifinal win Friday and into today's gold-medal game against Australia.

"I couldn't throw it into whatever that sea is, the Mediterranean," Swoopes (six points) said of her 0-for-6 shooting start.

The victory margin was the United States' smallest during its Olympic winning streak, which began after a 79-73 loss to the Unified Team in the 1992 semifinals in Barcelona. Until Friday, the Americans' smallest victory margin since '92 was 11 points over Russia in the 2000 Games' preliminary round.

"I'm proud that my team found a way to win," said U.S. coach Van Chancellor, the coach of Swoopes' WNBA team, the four-time champion Houston Comets. "Thank goodness for Sheryl Swoopes."

While Swoopes and most of her teammates struggled to keep the Russians at bay, another player with Texas ties had her best game of the Olympics. Duncanville product Tamika Catchings scored a team-high nine first-half points as the United States took a 37-33 lead. She finished with 11 points, five rebounds and five steals.

"She hasn't really been playing to her potential," U.S. captain Dawn Staley said. "I think it's a lot on the young players. Coach Chancellor gets on her a little bit. She's the type of player who usually doesn't let that bother her, but it's bothered her during the Olympics."

Catchings entered Friday's game averaging 7.7 points and 5.1 rebounds. On Thursday night, assistant coach Vivian Stringer sat Catchings down and showed her a tape of the U.S. team's gold-medal game against the Russians in the 2002 World Championships.

In that game, Catchings scored 16 points, shot 3-of-4 from 3-point distance and had a team-high 11 rebounds. Swoopes and Lisa Leslie struggled that night, too, as the United States held on for a 79-74 victory.

"Watching that game really helped me bring my confidence up and allowed me to come in tonight and do what I'm capable of doing," Catchings said.

Less than an hour before Friday's game, Catchings approached Staley, a 34-year-old guard playing in her third and last Olympics.

"I want to be a great player one day," Catchings told Staley.

"Look, you've got to go out there and play your game," Staley replied.

"I'm a good player now," said Catchings, 25, a two-time WNBA All-Star. "But I realize that I have a lot of things to learn in order to be at that top level."

Australia 88, Brazil 75: Lauren Jackson, the WNBA's most valuable player with the Seattle Storm last season, had 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead Australia past Brazil. The victory set up a rematch of the gold-medal game in Sydney four years ago, when Australia was defeated in front of its home fans by the United States, 76-54.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.