.jpg)
U.S. reaches semis
Delle Donne scores 17 as USA advances in World University Games
10:58 a.m., Aug. 18, 2011--The University of Delaware's Elena Delle Donne scored 17 points as the USA Basketball World University Games team defeated Finland 96-30 on Thursday in a quarterfinal medal round contest at the international competition being held in Shenzhen, China.
With the victory the U.S. moves on to the semifinals, where it will face Australia on Friday. The semifinal game will be played at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Australia advanced with a 79-44 victory over Canada. Both teams enter the game unbeaten at 4-0.
Sports Stories
Rower honored
Unsung Hero
Against Finland, Delle Donne scored the first eight points of the game with back-to-back three pointers and a jump shot as the U.S. opened an early 8-0 lead. That helped set the tone as the Americans jumped out to a 32-10 first quarter lead, with Delle Donne netting 13 points.
"We wanted to come out with a strong start because we hadn't done that very well, especially in our last game," Delle Donne said on the USA Basketball website. "So we knew that was really important. We studied our scouting report really hard. Offensively, our shots were falling, and defensively, we were just attacking."
The U.S. extended the margin to 53-17 at the half and 73-24 after three quarters.
Delle Donne finished with 17 points, tied for the team high with Devereaux Peters. Delle Donne also had six rebounds and three assists.
Should the U.S. defeat Australia, it will advance to the championship game on Sunday, Aug. 21. Game time for the gold medal game will be 9:30 a.m. EDT. The other semifinal game will match Taiwan and Sweden.
To follow Delle Donne through the championships, see the special site on BlueHens.com.
Photo courtesy USA Basketball