Miami's Shenise Johnson Scores 11 Points in Team USA Victory Over Russia
July 28, 2009
Shenise Johnson (Miami / Henrietta, N.Y.) posted a near double-double to lead the 2009 USA U19 World Championship Team (4-1) past Russia (4-1) 75-56 in FIBA U19 World Championship second round action on Tuesday afternoon in Bangkok, Thailand. Johnson scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds as the U.S. dominated Russia 20-6 in the final stanza to seal the win.
In addition to Johnson, the USA’s winning effort was aided by Nnemkadi Ogwumike (Stanford / Cypress, Texas) 12 points and 13 boards, Samantha Prahalis (Ohio State / Dix Hills, N.Y.) had 10 points and dished out seven assists, Skylar Diggins (Washington H.S. / South Bend, Ind.) also contributed 10 points, Chay Shegog (North Carolina / Stafford, Va.) came off the bench for nine points and six rebounds, and LaSondra Barrett (Louisiana State / Jackson, Miss.) checked in for eight points and seven boards.
The U.S. closes second round play against Japan (2-3) on July 29 (2:00 a.m. EDT).
“There were times when we would stretch it out and then let them back in,” said Carol Owens, USA and Northern Illinois University head coach. “In the second half we executed well down the stretch. Our defense picked up and by the fourth quarter we wore them down a little bit. It was a great effort.
“We thought it would be a little closer than it was, but we had a shot with Skylar being back. She wasn’t 100 percent, but Sammy stepped up really big, she played a lot of minutes for us tonight. We felt like we needed her on the floor, needed her leadership on the floor. Chay Shegog and LaSondra Barrett did a great job for us coming off the bench. They have the experience of playing one year in college and know how to defend those types of post players.”
The USA ran out to a 9-3 lead to open the game. Russia tied the score at 15-all with 2:40 to go in the first quarter, but at the buzzer the Americans were back up by six points, 23-17.
Swapping baskets through most of the second period, Layshia Clarendon (Cajon H.S. / San Bernadino, Calif.) hit a three near the end of the first half to give her side a 40-32 advantage heading into the locker room.
The third period got started with Russia jumping back in front, 45-44, at 6:27. During their 13-4 run, the Russians nailed a pair of threes and held the U.S. to 2-of-8 shots from the field. The game remained close over the next several minutes and at 2:56 Tatiana Grigoryeva hit a 3-pointer that tied the game for the last time at 50-50.
Barrett scored off an inbounds pass at 2:23 to give the United States the lead for good, 52-50. From there the red, white and blue forced Russia into a pair of turnovers and missing all six of its shots from the field as the U.S. closed the period up by five points, 55-50.
“C.O. (USA head coach Carol Owens) told us to pretty much wind the clock down, to take care of every possession because every possession was vital,” commented Ogwumike about the team’s strategy heading into the final quarter. “We just did our best to score every time we had the ball and deflect the ball every time we were on defense.”
The fourth quarter was all USA as the Americans outscored Russia 20-6 in the final stanza. Ripping off 10 unanswered points to start the period, the USA’s defense held Russia scoreless for over five minutes as the Europeans missed their first 10 attempts. By the time Russia put up its first points of the quarter, the U.S. owned the game, 65-52 with 4:31 to play.
“In the fourth quarter they looked tired,” said Shegog. “When we got into one of the huddles, Sammy (Prahalis) was like, ‘let’s just run our transition game’ because they were starting to jog up the court. So we wanted to run on them.”
Russia, which hit its second basket of the fourth quarter with 1:48 to play, shot a frigid 15.8 percent (3-19 FGs) from the field in the final 10 minutes of the game, including 0-of-7 from 3-point range. In contrast, the USA, which outrebounded Russia 15-6 in the fourth quarter, hit 40.0 percent (6-15 FGs) from the field.
“We tried to step up the defensive intensity,” said Diggins about the USA’s fourth quarter play. “We started our offense with our defense. This team loves to push. We finally sat our butts down and got some steals, got out. People were coming off the bench ready to play and that’s what we need. We got out to a big lead and held them.”
The United States outrebounded Russia 50-34 and scored 48 of its points in the paint. Russia shot just 26.3 percent (20-76 FGs) from the field, slightly better than its 24.1 percent (7-29 3pt FGs) from 3-point range.
Anastasia Shilova and Grigoryeva came off the bench to tie as Russia’s top scorers with seven points apiece. Russia’s leading scorer through the first four games, Anastasia Logunova, picked up her third foul just 6:37 into the game and was held to six points in 19 minutes.
The second round runs through July 29. The top four finishing teams in each second round group will advance to compete in the July 31 quarterfinals. Semifinal action is scheduled for Aug. 1 and the gold medal will be contested on Aug. 2.
The other Group F games featured Japan capturing a 78-70 win over China (1-4), while Canada (2-2) takes on Spain (4-0) in the late game. Group E games saw Australia (5-0) blow past the Czech Republic (3-2) 92-65 and Lithuania (3-2) downed France (2-3) 54-42. Argentina (2-2) faces Brazil (2-2) play the final Group E game tonight.
South Korea (2-3) ended its tournament run in 13th place after defeating Mali (1-4) 68-52, while Tunisia (1-4) collected its first victory and finished in 17th place with an 80-65 win over host Thailand (0-5).
Owens is being assisted by collegiate head coaches Amanda Butler of the University of Florida and Bill Fennelly of Iowa State University.
The 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship features 16 national teams comprised of athletes 19-years-old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1990) that qualified through their FIBA zone tournaments.
