Thompson keys third quarter run as U.S. beats Spain

By Doug Feinberg

BEIJING — After three straight blowouts, it took a half for the U.S. women’s basketball team to get going and beat Spain.

Tina Thompson scored nine of her 17 points during the decisive third quarter run and Lisa Leslie added 14 points and 11 rebounds to help the U.S. top Spain 93-55 on Friday night.

The Americans had won their first three games by an average of 47 points, putting the game away by the half in all the victories. On Friday night, the Americans struggled for a half to get rid of Spain turning the ball over a tournament-high 19 times.

After a sloppy first half that saw the U.S. have 11 turnovers and only lead by five, 39-34, the Americans opened the third quarter with a 20-5 run to take control of the game. The U.S. scored the first nine points of the period, including three by Thompson from the foul line when she was fouled hard by Ana Montanana, who was called for a technical foul — the first of the entire Olympics.

Tamika Catchings’ putback with 2:53 left in the period gave the U.S. a 59-39 advantage. Spain closed within 16 to start the fourth quarter before the Americans went on a 13-0 run to put the game away.

Candace Parker added 13 points and Diana Taurasi had 12 for the U.S. (4-0).

Amaya Valdemoro led Spain (2-2) with 17 points.

The U.S. got a brief scare when Leslie left early in the period with an apparent injury. She was stretched on the sidelines by team trainer Ed Ryan before returning later in the period.

With the win, the U.S. has 29 straight victories in Olympic contests. The last loss was to the Unified team in the 1992 semifinals.

The game looked to be another blowout at the start with the Americans jumping out to a 19-4 lead in the first quarter as they held Spain scoreless for nearly 7:30 minutes. However, Spain wouldn’t go away, closing the period with a 13-3 spurt of its own, hitting four 3-pointers. Montanana’s 3-pointer at the buzzer closed the gap to 22-17.

Spain will finish its pool play on Sunday against Mali.

In other games Friday, Australia topped Latvia 96-73, Russia edged Brazil 74-64, the Czech Republic beat New Zealand 90-59, and China routed Mali 69-48.