July 7, 1999
Palma de Mallorca, Spain — Despite a team high 18 points from LaQuanda Barksdale (North Carolina), the 1999 USA Women’s World University Games Team (2-1) fell to Ukraine (3-0) 81-70 Wednesday night at the German Escalas Gymnasium in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
The United States advances to medal round quarterfinals as the No. 2 team in preliminary Group B, while Ukraine finished at the top of the pool.
After totaling 29 points in the first two games of the tournament, Notre Dame junior center Ruth Riley (Macy, Ind.) was held to just one point on four field goal attempts. She also had three rebounds and a block in 12 minutes of action.
The United States opened the game with eight unanswered points and with 13:31 remaining in the half, had opened up a 16-7 lead. However, Ukraine scored the game’s next 11 points to take an 18-16 lead at 9:36. Following three lead changes and two tied scores, the U.S. was up 31-24 at 5:56. Ukraine then went on a 10-0 run to pull ahead 34-31 with 3:08 to go and at the midway buzzer the Americans trailed 40-35.
Coming onto the court in the second half, the United States went on a 14-4 run, behind six points from Barksdale and four each from Katie Douglas (Purdue) and Ayana Walker (Louisiana Tech), and reclaimed the lead, 49-44 with 13:56 left in the contest. The USA and Ukraine swapped leads five times and at 7:08, the score was knotted at 57 apiece, but the U.S. never regained the lead. In the remaining minutes the United States committed nine fouls, resulting in 14 points (14-18 FTs) for Ukraine, closing out the game with the 81-70 loss.
In addition to Barksdale’s 18 point effort, Douglas finished as the only other U.S. scorer in double figures with 15 points. Brooke Wyckoff (Florida State) pulled down a team high eight rebounds to go with her eight points.
The United States next faces Lithuania (3-0), the top team from Group C at 6:00 p.m. (11:00 CDT) on Friday night in Calvia.
-ND-