Yolanda Griffith played like a woman possessed.
The fearless former Carver High School All-Stater led a furious second-half resurgence by the U.S. women’s basketball team Wednesday, finishing with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds as the defending gold medalists beat Russia 88-77 at the Sydney Dome.
“Every game is a wakeup call, but I think tonight we were cutting it a little too close,” Griffith said after the unbeaten Americans’ third straight victory. “We’re going to learn from this, and everybody as an individual is going to analyze what they need to do better. The first thing will be defense. We can score.”
The Russians controlled the tempo in the first half, leading by as many as eight points at 33-25 and taking a 47-44 halftime advantage.
It was a spirited and physical game played before 8,383 flag-waving fans. The U.S. outrebounded the bigger Russian contingent 32-23 and dominated inside scoring 36-24. But the key was a stepped-up defensive effort that forced 16 turnovers and created easy baskets on the other end.
“That’s a real strength of ours, but we need to get it going on the defensive end early in the game,” U.S. coach Nell Fortner said. “We did a better job of getting in the passing lanes in the second half, and we really put the pressure on them to cause some turnovers so we could run.”
Lisa Leslie led all scorers with 18 points to go with nine rebounds. Sheryl Swoopes matched Griffith’s 16 points and Ruthie Bolton-Holifield scored 12.
The injury-depleted Russians had four players in double figures, led by sharp-shooting Anna Arkhipova, who made all four of her three-point attempts.
Russia was the last team to beat the U.S. women in the Olympics, in the 1992 semifinals as the Unified team.
Russian standout Elena Baranova, who plays in the WNBA, wasn’t on the Olympic roster because she recently underwent knee surgery. Another key player, Ioulia Skopa, hurt her knee before the team left for Australia and hasn’t played. Point guard Irina Soumnikova was lost when she broke her wrist after being elbowed in Russia’s opening game with Cuba.
The United States (3-0) secured a berth in next week’s quarterfinals and is virtually assured of winning its pool. The U.S. has only New Zealand and Poland left to play in its pool.