Down here in Augusta, GA where the Nike Nationals are taking place, it’s day two of competition before this weekend’s playoffs. A number of college coaches have either exited or showed up here in hot and muggy Augusta after an appearance in the very scenic and chilly Puerto Montt, Chile, host of the FIBA u19 Women’s World Championships where its medal round-day and a loss is an exit from the tournament.

Two days ago the shock of the summer was the unexpected and surprising USA loss to neighboring Canada, 64-52. It was so stunning that the FIBA website charting the game when blank with :26 left in the game. Even the USA Basketball web site was down for a while as fans around North America wanted to know if this was true or not.

This wasn’t a last second loss, but a game-long losing effort for the Americans. The USA was outplayed in the first quarter, trailing 20-9 after the first 10 minutes, and then six at halftime 29-23. The USA made their run in the third quarter, closing to 41-39 by the end of the quarter but couldn’t make it up in the fourth quarter, for their first win at this age-level competition in seven tries. You could tell the USA might have problems as they advanced later in this World Championship as they struggled against a very big, strong and determined China team, 80-77. What made that day even more shocking was the 75-47 loss by favored Australia to a very athletic and spirited Brazil team later in the evening. The Aussies couldn’t handle the up-tempo efforts and inside scoring of 6-4 center Damaris Dantas, who could be the best player there in Puerto Montt.

After yesterday’s day of rest, the big game tonight featured a very athletic and well-playing France facing the USA team hoping to get back on track in this medal-round game and also hoping not to get upset again as their earlier foe Canada dropped out of gold medal contention with a 69-55 loss to a balanced Spain squad to start today’s action. Unfortunately, this is exactly what almost happened as the USA pulled out a roller-coaster, 70-64, last minute, two second win against France to advance to the semifinals against Brazil which held on to 73-71 back and forth battle with Russia in the night game.

If the USA is to advance to past tomorrow’s semi-finals it will be necessary to find some chemistry with this crew. People have told me from the start of the event to yesterday’s break, the USA team as been playing down hill. Opponents have use a lot of zone to take away the USA bigs and force them into a half-court offensive battle where they haven’t been able to hit shots. Against Canada the USA struggled inside with no forward or post getting double digit points. Against China, the USA blew a 12-point third quarter lead and let the Chinese tie them until they pulled away in the final minutes. Looking at the play-by-play of these games shows a lot of substitution and with a desire by head coach Jen Rizzotti to find her top eight players. While necessary to get this done now with all games being for gold, its difficult when each of the remaining teams (Australia, Spain, Brazil, Russia) offering a different look and roster to compete against. Australia, which has the biggest roster here in the medal round, is susceptible to upset again by balanced and seasoned rosters from Spain.

Last night was another game of find the right combo. The USA started off slow again, trailing France by four with 6:49 in the first when mass substitution by Rizzotti enabled the French to jump out even more, 23-11 by the end of the quarter. It was at this point when 6-4 high school rising-senior Breanna Stewart went to work pushing the USA back into the game with second quarter burst of points and rebounds to catch the French, 30-25, by halftime. The USA finally tied the game at 7:46, 33-33 left in the 3rd quarter. More subs and the lead see-sawed back and forth over the rest of the quarter into the final period when a Stewart-led charge pushed the USA out front 62-51 by the 6:04 mark. As with the China game, the USA lost this lead in the final stanza to the French who tied the game 64-64 with 2:22 left. Twenty seconds later, more subs and two foul shots by Stewart gave the USA it’s critical lead, 66-64 to hold onto the victory. It may not have been pretty, but the USA is in the u19 FIBA semifinals, two games away from gold.