BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 6 : U.S. Women Gain Big Fans in 111-55 Victory

The United States won another basketball game by 56, but the closest the Dream Team got to it was the grandstand behind the bench.

The U.S. women, two-time defending Olympic gold medalists, starved for attention by fate, cooped up in the village because of the schedule, were let out Thursday and fell upon Czechoslovakia in a 111-55 rout.

Seven members of the men’s team sat behind them, cheering the women on with only an occasional jibe.

“The women are a great team,” Charles Barkley said. “We should play them.”

Karl Malone awarded them the gold medal on the spot.

Thanks, said no-nonsense Teresa Edwards, America’s first three-time basketball Olympian, but no thanks.

“This is called the first round in the Olympics,” Edwards said. “It’s not that easy. Maybe it is for them but not for us.”

Like the men, the U.S. women flew to France two weeks ago. The men got Monte Carlo. The women got Montpellier, France, a seaside resort but a quieter one. The men got to break up their week with an exhibition and started Olympic play two days after getting here.

The women beat each other up in practice for a week, came here and started in on each other again for five more days.

“We didn’t want to be overexcited,” said Cynthia Cooper, the former Trojan and a two-time Olympian who led the way with 18 points. “It was a relief after all those practices, all those scrimmages, all the times we tried to kill each other, actually.

“We got to the village and saw old friends and fellow athletes. It was good, but it gets old. When you watch the Dream Team . . . you want to play.”

So they played.

The Czechs, a representative team if not one of the pre-tournament favorites, were competitive only briefly.

U.S. Coach Theresa Grentz turned loose her quicker, deeper roster--each of the 11 healthy and sound players went at least 9:58--and had it pressing relentlessly.

The United States was ahead, 18-10, when Barkley, Malone, Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson and Clyde Drexler filed in. There was the usual mass inhalation that greets their entrance at any venue during these Games.

The women never missed a beat. They led, 53-33, by halftime and never let up.

Grentz, out to send a message in big type, pressed through the second half, too.

The American total set a women’s record for points in an Olympic game, topping the 102 the U.S. team scored against the Soviet Union in 1988. The margin of victory was 19 points greater than the previous high, a 37-point U.S. beating of South Korea in 1984.

Edwards’ 16 points gave her 114, breaking the all-time U.S. women’s Olympic record, Cheryl Miller’s 99. Miller, however, got her points in six games in ’84. Edwards has played 12 games.

Cooper said she was happy the men came and saw the show.

“They had the day off,” she said. “Maybe they had practice.”

Not in this lifetime. Coach Chuck Daly hasn’t ruined an off-day with a practice since play started.

“Well, maybe they had a golf tournament,” Cooper said, laughing.

“They acted like fans, and I’m sure that was different for them. At the beginning of the second half, we were all standing and cheering except for Daedra Charles. They were yelling at Daedra, ‘Daedra, you better get up and start cheering!’ She hopped up in a hurry.

“Charles is always yelling at me: ‘Stand up! Sit down! Play some defense!’

“As a matter of fact, the blue wristband I wore, I got from Charles. I love his game. . . . . Magic said he’d bring us a little gift. He brought us some T-shirts. It just told us, they think we’re not just anybody. We’re the women’s Olympic team, and they care about us as much as we care about them.”

In other women’s basketball games Thursday, Cuba edged the Commonwealth of Independent States, 91-89; China defeated Spain, 66-63; and Brazil easily handled Italy, 85-70.