McCoughtry, USA Advance to Semis
ATLANTA, Aug. 7, 2012 - Angel McCoughtry of the Atlanta Dream helped the USA Basketball Olympic Team advance to the semifinals with a 91-48 victory over Canada Tuesday in the quarterfinals. McCoughtry reached double figures in scoring once again, totaling 11 points off the bench for Team USA, whose staff includes Dream head coach Marynell Meadors.
McCoughtry was one of five players on the well-balanced USA squad to score in double figures. She made five of her seven field goal attempts and split a pair of free throw attempts in only 15 minutes of action. She also grabbed five rebounds, dished out two assists and compiled two more steals, for the U.S., which is now 6-0 during the Olympics.
McCoughtry now shares the team scoring lead with Diana Taurasi, as each player is averaging 12.6 points per game. She leads the team and ranks second among all Olympians in steals, averaging 2.7 per contest, and is fourth on the U.S. squad averaging 6.0 rebounds per game.
Team USA will face Australia (5-1), which finished second in Group B and beat China 75-60 on Tuesday, in one of Thursday's semifinals.
Angel McCoughtry Quotes (courtesy of USA Basketball)
On the importance of the defensive performance:
We need that defensive momentum going into the next game. It is only getting tougher and tougher. Defense is going to win our games. We know we can score. We have to stop our opponents from scoring.
On the team�s ability to overcome early offensive troubles:
Even though we missed a couple of shots in the beginning, we can come back and make shots so fast and we know we can score at will even though we may miss a few shots. It is the defense that�s going to be the determining factor for the future games.
Can you talk about the energy you are able to bring to the team?
I have accepted my role in coming in and trying to give as much energy as I can. We have a lot of players that bring energy like Lindsay (Whalen) and Maya (Moore), but I just have accepted that role to be one of those girls that come in and feed some energy to the team whether its rebounding, trying to get steals, and doing the little things the team needs.
McCoughtry was one of five players on the well-balanced USA squad to score in double figures. She made five of her seven field goal attempts and split a pair of free throw attempts in only 15 minutes of action. She also grabbed five rebounds, dished out two assists and compiled two more steals, for the U.S., which is now 6-0 during the Olympics.
McCoughtry now shares the team scoring lead with Diana Taurasi, as each player is averaging 12.6 points per game. She leads the team and ranks second among all Olympians in steals, averaging 2.7 per contest, and is fourth on the U.S. squad averaging 6.0 rebounds per game.
Team USA will face Australia (5-1), which finished second in Group B and beat China 75-60 on Tuesday, in one of Thursday's semifinals.
Angel McCoughtry Quotes (courtesy of USA Basketball)
On the importance of the defensive performance:
We need that defensive momentum going into the next game. It is only getting tougher and tougher. Defense is going to win our games. We know we can score. We have to stop our opponents from scoring.
On the team�s ability to overcome early offensive troubles:
Even though we missed a couple of shots in the beginning, we can come back and make shots so fast and we know we can score at will even though we may miss a few shots. It is the defense that�s going to be the determining factor for the future games.
Can you talk about the energy you are able to bring to the team?
I have accepted my role in coming in and trying to give as much energy as I can. We have a lot of players that bring energy like Lindsay (Whalen) and Maya (Moore), but I just have accepted that role to be one of those girls that come in and feed some energy to the team whether its rebounding, trying to get steals, and doing the little things the team needs.