Ohlde, Koehn And USA Team Arrive In Brazil
Jul 15, 2002 | Women's Basketball
July 15, 2002
Brazil - The U.S. team, which practiced from 9-10:30 am in Colorado Springs on July 11, loaded up the bus at 11:45 am and headed to the airport for flights from Colorado Springs through Denver and Miami before arriving in Sao Paulo on Friday morning only to hop on a bus for a six-plus hour drive and finally arrived in Ribeirao Preto on Friday evening. A 26-hour travel day from point-to-point didn't stop the team from heading to the mall next door to the hotel for a little window shopping, food and ice cream. Some things never change!
The U.S. squad was up early and after getting taped and eating breakfast, they headed to the COC University gymnasium for a two-hour practice where they worked on plays and shooting in preparation for tomorrow's exhibition game against the Brazil Young Women's National Team. Kara Brown-Braxton and Nichole Ohlde worked on their dunks. Not to be left out of the above-the-rim game, Cappie Pondexter clowned around like she could dunk too. (The USA vs. Brazil game will be played at noon [11 am ET] on Sunday at the COC gym.)
USA Basketball.com caught up with several players following their Saturday morning practice to see what they had to say about the long travel, Brazilian shopping and the facility where the gold medal will be contested over the next week.
Laurie Koehn"I think this was the first time I've traveled for nearly 30 hours straight. I can't say that I've ever had that experience before, but I guess that's just part of the whole experience. It was fun, I mean, it's fun to hang around each other when you have a day like that. I also read a lot, I'm currently reading a book called, "What's So Amazing About Grace." Then we went to the mall last night and hung out, went to Wal-Mart and picked up some things we might need. That's about it.
"The gym is pretty nice. It'll be pretty nice. It's a lot different than some of the gyms we have in America. The nets are frayed at the end, I'm not sure what that's all about. I guess they must have some really good shooters who wear the nets out. It looks like they've been dunking on the rims a lot too. It'll be good though. The floor is a little bit harder than what we're used to, but it's all part of the experience.
"I think it's going to be a blast to finally get to go against another team. All of us will be on the same sideline, cheering each other on, and getting to play a different country will be a lot of fun."
