McCray Pours In 15 Points In Team USA's 93-59 Win Over Great Britain In 2009 World University Games Action

July 2, 2009

BELGRADE, Serbia –

Box Score in PDF Format

KU senior All-American Danielle McCray was one of three players in double figures with 15 points, as the 2009 USA Women’s World University Games Team (2-0) needed just 10 minutes to build a comfortable lead before it ran away with a 93-59 victory over Great Britain (1-1) on Thursday afternoon in Belgrade, Serbia.

McCray knocked down 6-of-10 shots from the field, including her lone three-point field goal attempt, while also pulling down four rebounds and tying for a team-high four steals.

“I was pleased. I thought we really set the tone with our defense,” said USA and Arizona State University head coach Charli Turner Thorne. “We knew they could shoot it well and they were going to try to pull our posts out, spread us out. I think we handled it well and created a lot of offense off of our defense. We had some lulls. It’s always hard when you go up that big to stay focused. All in all, it was a great team effort.”

Jantel Lavender (Ohio State / Cleveland, Ohio) led the red, white and blue with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Ta’Shia Phillips (Xavier / Indianapolis, Ind.) rounded out the USA’s double-digit scorers with 11 points and eight rebounds.

The USA’s size advantage on the interior was apparent from the start, and the USA finished with a 55-30 advantage on the boards and 48 points in point.

Tina Charles (Connecticut / Jamaica, N.Y.) put the first points on the board 45 seconds into the game, followed by two free throws from Jeanette Pohlen (Stanford / Brea, Calif.), and the score was 4-3 when Great Britain sank its first field goal at 8:26.

A 3-pointer from Ashley Houts (Georgia / Trenton, Ga.) ignited a 17-0 U.S. run that stretched to the 2:24 mark and included 13 points in the paint from four U.S. post players. The first quarter buzzer sounded with the USA up 27-7, and the game’s outcome never again was in question.

Phillips tallied six of her 11 points in the second period to help the USA outscore Britain 22-15 in the quarter and head to the halftime locker room with a 49-22 lead.

Great Britain never quit fighting, however, and opened the second half with a 7-0 run that brought the score to 49-29 and prompted a USA timeout at 8:34. The USA responded with a 26-13 spurt that included 11 points from McCray, and headed into the game’s final 10 minutes, the U.S. lead had ballooned to 75-42.

Tiffany Hayes (Connecticut / Lakeland, Fla.), who also grabbed five rebounds, tallied six of her nine points the final stanza to help the USA outscore Great Britain 18-17 and bring the final score to 93-59.

The U.S. squad wraps up preliminary play against host Serbia on July 3 at 5:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. CDT). Second round action takes place July 5-7, the medal semifinal round will be played on July 9 and the medal finals will be played on July 11.