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Cuba Tops U.S. in Pan Am Women's Hoops
By Janie Mccauley, Ap Sports Writer
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, 2 - Four games,
46 points - that's been the spread in the United
States women's basketball team's four losses to
Cuba in an 11-day span.
The Cubans' 84-62 victory Saturday in the first
game of round-robin play was the largest margin
yet. Cuba swept the Americans in three exhibition
games July 22-24 in Havana, including a three-point
win in the opener.
These teams are getting to know each other so
well they've become rivals. And both sides seem
to believe there will be a fifth meeting before
the Pan American Games are over.
"The most frustrating part of it is that
we have played them four times and we haven't
been successful," American forward Nicole
Powell of Stanford said. "A 14-point lead
is nothing."
When Cuba star Yaquelin Plutin saw that her team
would open against the United States here, she
couldn't quite believe it. Plutin knew the teams
would likely meet, just not in the first game.
"It's very hard to beat a team four times
in a row," said Plutin, who scored a game-high
18 points and led her team's impressive second-half
comeback. "We are accustomed to playing them
and they are accustomed to playing us."
Plutin and her teammates increased their defensive
intensity in the second half and became more efficient
on offense to erase a 14-point halftime deficit.
The Cubans began the third quarter by scoring
15 straight points as the Americans went cold
from the field.
"We changed our way of play in the second
half," Plutin said.
Cuba, which muscled its way inside and started
pressing from the half-court line, shot 49 percent
(29-for-59) after a poor first half in which it
made only 11-of-30 attempts. The Americans failed
to handle the aggressive defensive pressure and
struggled to get open looks at the basket.
Ann Strother and Laurie Koehn each scored 11
for the Americans, who managed only 16 points
in the second half.
"We know each other so well," U.S.
coach Debbie Ryan said, referring to Cuba. "They
came out with a lot more energy and we didn't
have energy. They pressured and we didn't handle
the pressure."
The top four teams from the preliminary rounds
advance to the semifinals.
"We're still in it," Powell said. "We've
still got another shot, and we could potentially
play Cuba again."
Cuba coach Jose Ramirez sure thinks it'll happen.
"The United States is a very good team for
the future," Ramirez said.
The game tipped off 10 minutes late. One of the
backboards had to be adjusted because it was 2
inches too high.
The U.S. men's team was set to open against Argentina
on Saturday night.
Cuba Wins Seven Pan Am Wrestling Golds
Sun Aug 3, 8:42 PM ET .By Janie Mccauley,
Ap Sports Writer.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Cuba tuned
up for the Greco-Roman wrestling world championships
in style by winning all seven gold medals at the
Pan American Games.
Not even Sydney Olympics star Rulon Gardner
could stand in the way of the Cubans. Gardner
lost 5-0 to Mijian Lopez in the heavyweight class
Sunday, earning instead one of four silver medals
the Americans won.
The U.S. team managed two bronze as well, but
that's hardly the medals haul the Americans came
for.
"It's always a disappointment," Gardner
said. "We want to come here as a team and
represent our nation. The Cubans came here and
won every weight class.
"But the way we look at it, the disappointment
now breeds success in the future."
Along with Lopez, Cuba's winners were Ernesto
Pena, Luis Mendez, Filiberto Azcuy, Juan Luis
Maren, Roberto Monzon and Lazaro Rivas. For Rivas,
it was a fifth straight victory over Brandon Paulson
of Anoka, Minn.
"I have the world championships in a month
and a half and I hope to meet him in the final,
and I know I can beat him," Paulson said.
"I hate winning silver. I've won too many
of them."
Other U.S. silver medalists were Brad Vering
of Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Justin Ruiz of
Salt Lake City. The bronze winners were James
Gruenwald and T.C. Dantzler, both of Colorado
Springs.
Angelo Mota gave host Dominican Republic its
first medal Sunday - a silver. He lost at 145
1/2 pounds to Maren.
Gardner, who scored the biggest upset of the
2000 Olympics when he stunned previously unbeaten
Alexander Karelin of Russia, has had a strong
season. He had a toe amputated last year after
a snowmobiling accident when he became lost in
the Wyoming wilderness.
But he wrestled well enough to beat world champion
Dremiel Byers for a spot on the 2003 U.S. team
for worlds, and he easily made the finals here.
Then came Lopez, who has shut out Gardner all
three times they met this year.
Lopez, only 20, is taller and more athletic than
Gardner. That makes a difference, the American
said.
"It's almost like Spiderman reaching out
to grab you from nowhere. That's freaky,"
Gardner said.
"When you look at the momentum of a match,
you give up the first points and the second points
and then you are playing catchup."
None of the Americans ever caught up to the Cubans.
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