Friday Cardinal Couple --- USA U18 cruises to 118-50 win over El Salvador

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- USA goes to 2-0 in FIBA Americas with lopsided win

- Atlanta Dream has a nightmare in Seattle

- Power to the conferences

With eight players in double figures and a 76 point lead after three quarters, the USA FIBA U18 WBB squad coasted to a 118-50 win over El Salvador in Colorado Springs Thursday night.

USA jumped out to a 33-11 first quarter lead and increased that to 67-22 at the half. El Salvador was powerless to stop the USA fast-break transition game and it was 105-29 after 30 minutes. 

El Salvador did manage to shoot well over the USA zone in the final 10 minutes...outscoring Dawn Staley's squad 21-13 in the fourth quarter. 

Louisville's Mariya Moore led the USA squad in assists (6) and steals (3). She ended with five points in 18 minutes.


The three-point shot also returned for USA...after a 0-10 effort against Mexico, they responded last night with a 8-17 effort beyond the arc. A blistering 68% effort from the floor overall (52-76) for USA, aided by 78 points scored in the paint. 

USA will face Canada (2-0) in the final round of pool play today at 7:30 p.m. The Canadians remained undefeated with a 81-54 win over Mexico earlier Thursday. 

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 Atlanta's Shoni Schimmel attracted a crowd and Seattle used that buzz to lift its game.

Camille Little had 21 points and 13 rebounds and the Storm used a 13-0 first-quarter run to build a double-digit in a 88-

68 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta Dream on Thursday night.

Crystal Langhorne added 17 points and Temeka Johnson had 16 to help Seattle (11-20) keep alive its faint hopes of making the WNBA playoffs for the 11th straight season.

Tiffany Hayes had 16 points for the Dream (17-12) and Shoni Schimmel added 14. Atlanta has lost three straight and seven of its last nine.

Schimmel, last month's WNBA All-Star game MVP, played in high school in Portland and grew up on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in northeastern Oregon.

Many in the sellout crowd of 9,686, including a large number from several Pacific Northwest tribes, wore Schimmel T-shirts or held up signs of support of the rookie star from Louisville. The loudest reaction of the night for any player was when Schimmel made a 3-pointer early in the second quarter.

''At the end of the day, we fed off of the energy, whether they were cheering for Schimmel or the Dream,'' Little said. ''It was loud, and it was a great atmosphere.''

Schimmel played 37 minutes and had four rebounds and six assists.

''I heard people traveled from Wyoming and Montana - those aren't easy trips. We're on a road game, but at the same time, it feels like a homecourt advantage,'' she said. ''It's great to have the fans behind you. They tried to get us going, but we just came up short.''

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YET ANOTHER REASON IT'S GOOD TO BE IN THE ACC...OR SHOW ME THE MONEY

The NCAA board of directors has overwhelmingly approved a sweeping package plan that will give the five biggest conferences the ability to create their some of their own rules.

   If the legislation approved Thursday withstands an override attempt, the five wealthiest Division I conferences could start exercising their new autonomy as early as Oct. 1.

   The SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 will have the ability to implement some rules on their own, though probably not policies on rules violations. But a stipend for athletes that goes beyond currently allowed limits of tuition, room and board, books and fees, seems likely.

   Commissioners and school leaders from the power conferences have until Oct. 1 to create a wish list of issues they want to handle on their own.

paulie