Angel gets her groove back...Greenwell, Russell key USA over Brazil

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Wednesday Edition: CARDINAL COUPLE

-Angel McCoughtry, Atlanta beat New York 79-58

-Opening FIBA game features Russell, Greenwell in USA win.



A healthy Angel is the key to
Atlanta Dream success.



The Atlanta Dream captured their first win of the WNBA season...a 79-58 rout of the New York Liberty in Newark, NJ yesterday. Angel McCoughtry poured in 18 points for the Dream (1-3)...exacting revenge for the opening game of the season loss to the Liberty in Atlanta. The Dream put together runs of 11-0 and 9-0 in the first half and led the Liberty by 12 at halftime.

McCoughtry did the majority of her work in the first half, with 16 of her 18 in the first half. The Dream also got 12 points from front liner Erika DeSouza and Sancho Lyttle added 10. The Dream stretched the lead to 73-50 with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter and coasted in from there.

Former BIG EAST and Rutgers stars Essence Carson and Kia Vaughn led the way for the Liberty (2-2)...Carson scoring 21 points and Vaughn contributing 16. It is the second straight loss for New York at the Prudential Center...after opening the season with two road wins.

Carson had a big first half for the Liberty, with 17 points...but New York could never trim the deficit margin to under ten after the first quarter. Cappie Pondexter, formerly from Rutgers, plays for the Liberty also.

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Mercedes Russell's size advantage proved to
be too much for Brazil in the second half. She's 6'5".

Mercedes Russell had her way with the Brazilian U16 team in first round action in the FIBA Americas U16 Championships in Merita, Mexico...scoring 21 points and grabbing 15 rebound in 31 minutes of play. The USA squad rallied from a 34-31 deficit at halftime to regain the lead...largely due to the play of Rebecca Greenwell, a soon-to-be-junior at Owensboro (KY) Catholic. Greenwell scored the first four points of the second half for USA and ended up with eight points and six rebounds in 30 minutes in the 71-54 win over Brazil.

Greenwell talked about her team's focus in the opener:

"Brazil came out very aggressive and maybe played like they wanted it a little more than us in the first half. But we came down here to win the gold medal. We refocused a little bit at halftime, then came out and really got after it in the second half. Brazil plays a fast-paced game, which is fine with us...it's the way we like to play also."

Greenwell had 27 points in an exhibition game Sunday in the USA's 108-32 win over Mexico. USA will also play Venezuela and Argentina in games this week before the semi-finals and final games this weekend.

Way to represent, Becca! We can help but think that both Greenwell and Russell would look awfully good in Cardinal Red and Black in the KFC YUM! Center... 

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