Fennelly, United States Advance With 96-30 Win Over Finland

Photo Courtesy: Stephen Weidley

SHENZHEN, China - The United States World University Games team, coached by Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly, advanced to the semifinals with a 96-30 win over Finland Thursday. The United States will face Australia, which beat Canada today, on Friday at 7:30 a.m.

"Our effort was good, we defended really well," Fennelly said. "We finished around the basket, and we made shots. Odyssey (Sims) was resting a sore knee, so we had Shekinna Stricklen and Jackie Gemelos at the point, and I thought they did a good job of running our team. We played a pretty complete game from start to finish. But we turned the ball over 18 times, and our post players turned the ball over 13 times. We were 8-of-16 at the free throw line - you're nit-picking a little bit, but as we head into the semifinals, those little things mean you either play for the bronze medal or the gold medal. We are going to have to clean some of those things up."

The team was paced by Delaware's Elena Delle Donne and Notre Dame's Devereaux Peters, who finished with 17 points each.

The win improves the United States, which has won its games by an average of 55.8 points per game, to 4-0 overall.