Women Win Hands Down U.S. Captures Basketball Title

Now this was truly a Dream Team.

The U.S. women’s basketball team, every bit as dominant as their male counterparts, finished one of the most impressive runs in the Olympics by beating Brazil 111-87 for the gold medal Sunday night.

The victory re-established the Americans as the world’s best, avenging a loss to Brazil in the 1994 world championship and reclaiming the Olympic gold they last won in Seoul.

“This is sweet, awesome,” said Teresa Edwards. “We enjoyed it all the way to the end.”

The game was the final event of these Summer Games, all the more fitting in an Olympics where American women demonstrated their power as never before.

The U.S. team swept through eight Olympic opponents, improving its record to 60-0 since the team was put together less than a year ago. Lisa Leslie led the Americans with 29 points.

They won this game the same way they won most of the others: strong inside play, timely outside shooting, and a big run at the start of the second half.

They also showed a lot of crowdpleasing flair - something the men’s version of the Dream Team didn’t show often enough.

Katrina McClain dominated inside. Sheryl Swoopes and Ruthie Bolton scored from the perimeter, while four-time Olympian Edwards ran the show.

And Leslie was everywhere.

“I just knew I wanted to win and have my teammates count on me scoring inside,” said Leslie, who was 12 for 14 from the field. “It’s the best game I’ve ever played, the best moment of my life. We’re No. 1.”

Once the United States got safely ahead, it was showtime. A team that had been deadly serious in its pursuit of gold couldn’t help but break into smiles and high-fives as reserve Dawn Staley led one fast break after another.

The crowd of 32,997 at the Georgia Dome cheered throughout the game, something that didn’t occur when the U.S. men’s team played. This team didn’t need Charles Barkley leading a Y-M-C-A dance to excite the folks.

Sunday’s clincher was played at a frenetic, breath-sapping pace.

The United States shot 72 percent in the first half, yet Brazil was still in the game, trailing by 11. Then eight-straight points in the first 2:06 of the second half took the lead to 19. The gold medal was heading back into U.S. hands, ending a string of frustration in international competition for American teams and touching off the boisterous celebration.

The players hugged, shot their index fingers in the air, signifying - at last - that they were atop women’s basketball again. Then they ran around the court, waving to the fans, hugging some more.

During their victory lap, Kool and The Gang’s “Celebration” played over the loudspeakers. Staley and Carla McGhee danced and then Staley, Edwards and Jennifer Azzi turned cartwheels.

The fans celebrated, too, chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A” and showering their cheers on a team that energized the Dome for two weeks.

The 111 points were the most for the United States in Atlanta and the most ever in an Olympic gold medal game, topping the Soviet Union’s 104-73 victory over Bulgaria in 1980.

Swoopes finished with 16 points, Bolton 15 and McClain 12. Edwards had nine points and 10 assists, while Bolton had five steals and five assists.

Edwards got a piece of history as the first basketball player to win three Olympic gold medals. McClain won her second gold, to go with a bronze.

The players had every reason to cut loose. They sacrificed nearly a year of their lives to prepare for Atlanta - and for less money than they would have made playing overseas. Coach Tara VanDerveer took a one-year leave from her coaching job at Stanford.

Together, they trained longer and harder than any previous U.S. team. They traveled more than 100,000 miles, playing on four continents, and never lost.

“This culminated the whole year,” Edwards said. “We’re soaking in every minute.”

VanDerveer and her team generated so much interest that the gold medal game was made the lead-in to the closing ceremony.

The victory returned the United States to the top in a sport it ruled in the 1980s. But after a gold medal at Seoul and at the 1990 world championships, the Americans began to slip and came away with bronze medals in the 1991 Pan American Games, 1992 Olympics and 1994 world championships.

Those disappointments prompted USA Basketball to set up the year-long program to prepare for Atlanta, and $3 million was invested. It paid off in gold.