Olympics 2012: U.S. Women's Basketball Team Crushes Angola

LONDON — The U.S. women didn’t really play a preliminary game of Olympic basketball Monday night.

They played a game of name-that-score.

They didn’t figure to get much of a test from Angola, and they may have gotten even less than they imagined, crushing the errant-shooting Angolans, 90-38, to move to 2-0.

“We played better tonight than we did before and we hope that we play better the next game,” said Candace Parker, who led a balanced attack with 14 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. “So I think it is about continuing to get better.”

With the U.S. holding a 16-point lead (30-14) late in the second quarter, Maya Moore hit a 15-foot jumper, and Parker put in a sweet reverse off a Sue Bird bounce pass, and the lead was 20 – never to get under that again. The U.S. shot 55% from the floor (36-of-66) and 16-of-18 from the line. The only thing it didn’t do well, really, was shoot the three (2-for-17).

The U.S., which has won the last four gold medals, plays Turkey (2-0) in its next game Wednesday night.

Angola (0-2) was led by Sonia Guadalupe, a 6-2 forward, who had 11 points for the Angolans, who shot 13 for 66, or 20%.

“We hoped to get as far as 50 points, but we didn’t quite make it,” Angolan coach Anibal Moreira said. “But we are very proud to have the opportunity to play the Olympic champions.”