RIBEIR?O PRETO (July 14, 2002) ¨C Kansas State University junior-to-be Nichol Ohlde (Clay Center, Kan.) led the 2002 USA Basketball World Championship For Young Women Qualifying Team with 20 points and 10 rebounds as it defeated the Brazil Young Women¡¯s National Team in an exhibition contest Sunday night at the COC University gym in Ribeir?o Preto, Brazil. Ohlde¡¯s 20 points led a well-balanced scoring attack in which four players scored in double figures.

Tonight¡¯s game was the first of two exhibition games the U.S. will play before tipping off against Venezuela at noon on July 17 (all times local) in the inaugural Confederation of Pan American Basketball Associations (COPABA) World Championship For Young Women Qualifying Tournament. The United States will face the Brazil Senior National Team Monday night at 8:00 p.m. (all times local) in the second of a double-header which features the Brazil and Canada young women playing at 6:00 p.m. Brazil¡¯s seniors cruised past Canada¡¯s young women 76-41 in today¡¯s earlier contest.

¡°As the first game out, I was really pleased with their effort,¡± said USA and Texas Tech University head coach Marsha Sharp. ¡°We had a lot of players who made some big plays for us. I think that the strength of our team is our balance and that was evident today. Brazil made some adjustments at halftime and we were able to come back and counter it with other options because we had a lot of players who stepped up and were ready to score.¡±

¡°A lot of it came off of little dumps either from the guards or I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and got some easy little put-backs,¡± said Ohlde, who notched 16 points and eight rebounds by the end of the first half. ¡°The guards gave us great passes inside and I think that had a lot to do with it.¡±

It was only fitting that the USA team captains, Laurie Koehn (Kansas State / Hesston, Kan.) and Cappie Pondexter (Rutgers / Chicago, Ill.), selected as captains Saturday night, teamed up for the first points as Koehn nailed a distant 3-pointer at 9:20 from a perfectly executed Pondexter pass. Silvia Gustavo was sent to the line for two of her game high 22 points as Brazil outscored the United States 6-2 to hold a 6-5 lead with 8:44 to go in the first quarter. However, the U.S., behind four points from Shameka Christon (Arkansas / Hot Springs, Ark.), went on an 11-2 run and held a 16-8 advantage at 5:47. Allowing only a pair of Brazil field goals throughout the remainder of the first quarter, the red, white and blue closed out the period on fire to take a 33-17 lead at the first break.

The USA, which shot 46.8 percent from the field in the game, hit a sizzling 54.5 percent of its tries (12-22 FGs) in the first quarter, including 71.4 percent (5-7 3pt FGs) from 3-point, to open up the 15-point first quarter advantage. Scoring from afar in the first quarter were Koehn, Pondexter and Heather Schreiber (Texas / Windthorst, Texas), who got her second 3-pointer in with less than a minute to spare in the first.

The North Americans outscored their South American rivals 20-14 in the second period to take a commanding 53-31 lead at halftime. Brazil made some adjustments to the USA¡¯s game and won the third quarter 15-11 to cut the gap to 64-46 at the end of 30 minutes of action.

The USA¡¯s Amber Obaze (Louisiana Tech / Dallas, Texas ) and Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota / Hutchinson, Minn.) opened the final quarter with a pair of jumpers as the U.S. went up 68-46, which was followed by an 8-2 run by Brazil to close to 16 points, 70-54, with 6:42 to play. However, any comeback hopes were dashed after the USA took off on a 10-0 run, which included a trio of steals and ended at 2:54 with the USA securely in the lead 80-54. There was no looking back and as the clock wound down Kelly Mazzante (Penn State / Montoursville, Pa.) tossed in the final points of the game with two seconds remaining as the United States earned the 89-56 victory.

In addition to Ohlde¡¯s 20 points and 10 rebounds, Whalen checked in for 12 points and four assists, while Kara BrownBraxton (Georgia / Jackson, Mich.), who grabbed seven rebounds, and Obaze each scored 10 points off the bench. Pondexter passed off for a team high five assists and Ebony Hoffman (Southern California / Harbor City, Calif.) was credited with four.

As a team the USA outrebounded Brazil by a hefty 52-30 margin, while its defense limited the Brazilians to just 33.3 percent of its shots from the floor.

¡°They¡¯re pretty good, they have a lot of potential,¡± added Ohlde regarding the Brazil Young Women. ¡°They played really well today, they¡¯re good, they¡¯re tough, they have a lot of scorers and other people who can do a lot of different things.¡±

Assisting Sharp on the sidelines are collegiate head coaches Nikita Lowry of New Mexico State University and Lisa Stone of Drake University (Iowa).

Hosted by Brazil in Ribeir?o Preto July 1721 and featuring eight young women national teams from North, South and Central America as well as the Caribbean, the top three nations in the COPABA tournament will qualify for the inaugural International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Championship For Young Women, which is scheduled to be played in Dubrovnik, Croatia July 25 to August 3, 2003.

The U.S. has been placed in Group A along with Argentina, Dominican Republic and Venezuela, while Group B consists of host Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. The preliminary round-robin games will kick-off with the USA facing Venezuela on July 17 (12:00 p.m.), followed by games against the Dominican Republic on July 18 (6:10 p.m.) and Argentina on July 19 (6:10 p.m.). The top two teams from each group will advance to the July 20 medal semifinals (6:10 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.) and the gold and bronze medal games will be contested July 21 at 10:00 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., respectively.

*** ATHLETE / COACH INTERVIEWS ***

If you are planning on attending a practice or would like to arrange a telephone interview with an athlete or member of the coaching staff following any of the practices or games, please contact Caroline Williams at cwilliams@usabasketball.com or Brandon Faber 719-590-4800. All interviews will normally take place immediately following a practice or game in Brazil.

ADDITIONAL QUOTES USA 89, Brazil 56 (exhibition game)

Sunday, July 14, 2002

USA HEAD COACH MARSHA SHARP, TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY Were you pleased with the USA team¡¯s performance today?

¡°I think so. There are a lot of things that we can get better at, a lot of things that we don¡¯t face every day in the collegiate game. For instance the jump balls and some the physical aspects of it that we¡¯ll have to talk about. Overall, for a first outing, the first time they¡¯ve played together, they really did a nice job.¡±

After watching the Brazil Senior National Team against Canada, what are your thoughts on tomorrow¡¯s game? ¡°It¡¯ll probably be a lot of the same look, except with more experienced players. I think it will be really good for us to have to make some adjustments against them. I have a feeling that Brazil will try some things with this group that they will try with their younger group later in the tournament. It¡¯ll be important for us to recognize those things. I¡¯m glad we¡¯re going to play them because it will give us the chance to see some things that might help us later on in the tournament.¡±

KARA BROWN-BRAXTON, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

¡°The game was fun. It was the first time we really got out and played against any kind of competition. It was exciting to see the different looks that we put together in the first time playing together, it was pretty great. Not much to complain about at all and I¡¯m looking forward to coming out and playing tomorrow.¡±

Were you happy with your performance today? ¡°I missed a couple of layups today. I could have played a little bit harder, I need to concentrate more while I¡¯m out there, but the team overall played well. I need to work on my layups and rebounds for tomorrow.¡±

AMBER OBAZE, LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY

How did you feel out there today? ¡°Actually I felt kind of comfortable for some reason. Most of the time I feel real nervous before a game, but I was ready to play. Maybe because I¡¯m used to starting and playing more, I took every opportunity I got to do what I had to do. I think there¡¯s room for improvement, but I feel that I played well overall.¡±

NICHOLE OHLDE, KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Was the international game difficult to adjust to? ¡°Little things, like the jump ball. You don¡¯t take it out of bounds with the jump ball, you jump every one. That and it¡¯s a little more physical but I¡¯ve dealt with a little bit of that.¡±

JIA PERKINS, TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

¡°I thought it was a good game. Brazil came out here and gave us a tough match. We just had to stick to our game plan. It was a fun experience, playing a team overseas.¡±

How has it been for you so far in Brazil? ¡°People are real friendly here, they¡¯re really nice. We really don¡¯t know much Portuguese and everyone is being really friendly and trying to cope with us not knowing their language.

CAPPIE PONDEXTER, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

¡°It was a pretty fun game. I was pretty excited to come out with this team and play. We had a lot of energy and we played great together. I think we played really well together. Everybody was looking for teammates to score, it wasn¡¯t just an individual game. Everybody wasn¡¯t about ¡®I,¡¯ we had unity out there. I think we¡¯ll do well this week.¡±

LINDSAY WHALEN, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA You went inside and also got to the line quite a bit today, was that one of your goals?

¡°I think that¡¯s something I do really well, get in, draw the fouls. A lot of my game is taking the ball up to the hoop. Girls are going for the blocked shot and sometimes I reach over and I¡¯m able to draw the foul, get the contact and get to the free throw line.

How was the adjustment to the international game? ¡°It wasn¡¯t a tough adjustment. Just the jumping ball every time. I got into one of those for the first time today. That was pretty cool, I had never done that before. I didn¡¯t win it, I was against a girl who was a lot taller. It wasn¡¯t too bad of an adjustment, pretty much all of the rules are the same.¡±

How was the Brazilian team?

I thought they were good. They had some big players, some real physical guards. It¡¯s something I haven¡¯t played against, even in the Big Ten (Conference), they had some physical guards who really get up on you. But that¡¯s something we¡¯re going to have to contend with the whole time we¡¯re here.¡±