Maya Moore came off the bench to lead six USA players in double figures with 15 points as all 12 USA players scored for the second time in this 2010 FIBA World Championship tournament.
Candice Dupree and Swin Cash contributed 14 points apiece, Tina Charles chipped in 11 points with Sylvia Fowles and Lindsay Whalen on 5 for 5 shoot tallying 10 points apiece. Three more players, Diana Taurasi (8 points), Angel McCoughtry (9 points) and Tamika Catchings (9 points) narrowly missed joining the double digit scoring party.
"It's funny because we have so much talent on this team, and at any point any player can go off," said Sue Bird. "But that's where our advantage lies, where we don't have the training, we have the depth. So, we can go 12 deep, and it could be anybody in double figures. It could be six people, seven people, and that's really where our strength is."
Team USA eventually shook off the slow start to eventually finish the game shooting 61.1% for the game on 44 for 72 shooting. They also outrebounded Senegal 44-25 and forced 28 turnovers that they converted into 28 points. Team USA went on 17-0 and 11-4 runs to break open the game and go up 30-11 at the end of the first quarter and expand the lead to 58-25 at halftime.
They came out of the locker room determined to get off to a good second half start and a 14-5 run over the first 5:25 of that quarter helped expand their lead and build it to 86-36 by the end of the third period.
Senegal never quit and played Team USA hard the entire game, but the American squad had too much talent.
And more bad news for FIBA world, they're getting better.
"Our chemistry is building," said Jayne Appel. "It's kind of the same mindset every night, in the sense that each game that goes on, everyone is getting more comfortable, starting to trust each other a little more. So everything is definitely starting to work, and we're getting more and more pieces of the puzzle."
They play France in their final Group B preliminary game before the crossover round starts September 27-29 in Ostrava to form Group E. Team USA will play against the top three teams in Group A. The medal rounds will be played in Karlovy Vary, with the quarterfinals scheduled for October 1, the semifinals on October 2 and the medal games played on October 3.
Two games down, seven to go.
