GOODWILL GAMES : BASKETBALL : U.S. Women Give Crowd Something to Sing About

The U.S. women’s basketball team was in control throughout the game en route to an 82-70 victory over the Soviet Union Sunday in the gold-medal game of the Goodwill Games at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

The Americans went on a 16-1 run in the second half and led by as many as 25 points. They didn’t score in the final three minutes.

The victory extended the U.S. women’s international winning streak to 41 games, and the team gathered at midcourt to rap out the squad’s history for the TV cameras.

“We’ve won all the things we can possibly win, but that’s not enough for us. We want to win it again,” went the rap song, led by Cynthia Cooper, a former USC standout.

The United States already had beaten the Soviet Union, 86-78, in the first round and advanced to the gold-medal game with a 106-67 victory over Bulgaria. The Soviets shot only 35% from the floor.

“This game was a real defensive statement for us,” U.S. Coach Theresa Grentz said. “That was the key. We wanted to keep them from penetrating in the middle. It caused some problems for the Soviets and opened up some rebounds.”

After leading, 43-33, at halftime, the Americans went on a 16-1 run to lead 69-45 with 9:36 remaining. They took their biggest lead of the game, 80-55, on a jump shot by Sonja Henning with 5:28 to play.

That was the last basket the U.S. team scored. Tammy Jackson made two free throws with 3:42 left.

Thirty of the United States’ 40 rebounds came on the defensive end of the floor, 11 of them by Katrina McClain.

“That’s my strong point,” said McClain, who scored 15 points and had 14 rebounds. “I like to think I can dominate a game on the boards.”