INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Fever top draft pick Kelsey Mitchell, the second player chosen in the recent WNBA Draft, contributed five points and two assists during 10 minutes of playing time while making her USA National Team debut, Thursday night in Seattle. Getting 16 points from Sylvia Fowles (Minnesota Lynx), 14 points from both Breanna Stewart (Seattle Storm) and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), and 10 points by Elizabeth Williams (Atlanta Dream), the USA Women’s National Team stormed past China 83-46 in an exhibition game at KeyArena.
Photos: USA Exhibition Game & Training Camp »»
Closing out its three-day minicamp with a friendly against the Chinese National Team, the USA led 19-12 after first quarter, however, China went on a 13-6 scoring run to battle back and even the score 25-25 in the second quarter. The USA closed the second period with 17-straight points to grab control 42-25 at halftime and strolled through the second half to record the victory.
Mitchell, who entered the game midway through the second quarter, finished 2-of-5 shooting on the night, hitting the USA’s final bucket of each half. Her 3-pointer with 1:43 to play staked the United States to an 83-43 lead.
“I thought we had a good showing,” said Dawn Staley, USA and University of South Carolina head coach. “We got off to a fast start, slowed down a little bit in the second quarter, and then we picked it back up. A true part of what USA Basketball is all about is being able to insert a lot of talent into the game.
Sue Bird (Seattle Storm) dished out a game-high five assists and Stefanie Dolson (Chicago Sky) and Morgan Tuck (Connecticut Sun) grabbed a game-high tying six boards.
“I thought this game was great,” stated Bird. “You know Dawn [Staley] said it in her pre-game talk, we beat up on each other for two days and now we got to beat up on somebody else. And more than anything, it’s just building blocks, you know, today and really the last three days we’ve been able to set the foundation, set the ground work for what will be, hopefully, the building blocks for the World Cup and beyond. So this is just the first step but I think it was a pretty good one.”
Shooting 49.3 percent from the field, the U.S. defense stifled China’s offense into shooting just 26.6 percent. The American women outrebounded China 44-30 and outscored the Chinese 52-18 in the paint and 18-4 on second-chance points.
The USA team featured five Olympic gold medalists – Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Bird, Fowles, Stewart and Taurasi – and six athletes playing in their first official USA National Team game – Layshia Clarendon (Atlanta Dream); Tiffany Hayes (Atlanta Dream); Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm); Tuck, Williams and Mitchell.
The five Olympians started the game and set the tone by running out to a 14-2 lead.
Mitchell and Fever teammate Tiffany Mitchell, also a part of the USA’s 19-member three-day minicamp, will report to the Indiana Fever when WNBA training camps begin Sunday.