Women’s World Basketball : U.S. Beats Soviets Again

The title game in the women’s World Basketball Championships Sunday looked like an American walkaway with only 10 minutes to play.

Then a 17-point U.S. lead shrank to nine points in a matter of minutes, and the hometown crowd went as wild as Moscow crowds get.

“We got a little rattled,” American captain Kamie Ethridge said after the game. “They surprised us with a pressure defense. But we knew they couldn’t run with us--that’s our game--and we made a couple of quick baskets, and it was all right.”

The Americans won, 108-88, repeating their victory in the recent Goodwill Games here. The two losses were the first for the Soviet women’s basketball team in 28 years.

Cheryl Miller, the former USC star who had 24 points and 15 rebounds Sunday, also was surprised by the Soviets’ second-half surge.

“I did get a little nervous,” she said. “They were setting tremendous picks and they were hard to defend against.”

But Miller contributed a driving layup, and Teresa Edwards, second-leading U.S. scorer with 17 points, added two twisting shots that dazzled the Soviets.

All five starting American players scored in double figures. Ethridge, a playmaking guard, had 12 points; center Anne Donovan scored 16, and Katrina McClain accounted for 11.

For the Soviets, who fired their coach and replaced five members of their team after last month’s loss to the U.S., there was only slight consolation.

Olga Jakovleva, who hit six three-point baskets, led all scorers with 29 points. Irina Minkh, one of the new Soviet players, accounted for 15.

But the American women showed good control of both the offensive and defensive boards, outrebounding the Soviets, 48-26.

U.S. Coach Kay Yow and her Soviet counterpart, Leonid Jachmenev, both agreed that the Americans’ superior rebounding was the difference.

At times, the Soviet players seemed glued to the floor. In the first three minutes, for example, the Americans jumped off to an 8-0 lead, grabbing three rebounds, while the Soviets missed three shots in a row.

After their breakaway beginning, the U.S. players never fell behind and held a comfortable 56-43 lead at halftime.

“We want 100,” an American voice cried midway in the second half from the bleachers at the Central Army Sports Club court.

At the time, the score was 78-59. Suddenly, the Soviet team began its fullcourt press and scored 13 points while the American attack sputtered, producing only three points, and the gap narrowed to 81-72.

Soon, however, the tide turned again. The U.S. team, driving through the Soviet center for basket after basket, outscored the Soviets, 19-7, to take a 100-79 lead.

The game got rough, and the Soviet team seemed to lose its cool. Leading scorer Jakovleva threw a punch at an American player after a pileup, but a general melee was avoided.

When the buzzer sounded, the Americans went into a spasm of high-five congratulations, hoisted their coach onto their shoulders and cut down the net from one of the baskets.

This American tradition, however, shocked the Soviet sports czars, so they left the strings attached on the other hoop.

When Soviet sportswriters asked if this American team would be playing in the 1988 Olympics, Yow said it was too soon to tell.

Miller said: “This is probably the most talented team I’ve played on. . . . We’ve got a lot of heart and spirit, and the girls were great, willing to adjust and sacrifice.”