Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu Fuels Exhibition Win Over U.S. National Team

Top-ranked Oregon stunned the United States women’s national team, 93-86, on Saturday to hand the Americans their second loss to a college team in program history.

The Americans haven’t lost a major international game since falling to Russia in the semifinals of the 2006 World Championships. The only other loss to a college program came in 1999 when Tennessee won on a shot by Kara Lawson, who was a freshman that season, with 10 seconds left. The United States won the next 20 college games after that loss to the Lady Vols before Saturday.

Defeats have been extremely rare for the United States over the past decade, with the last two coming in an exhibition game against France in 2014 and a loss to the Czech Republic during a European tour in 2011.

The Americans were playing the fourth game of their college tour that started in Stanford last Saturday. Since that win over the Cardinal, the Americans have traveled nearly 5,000 miles while playing against Oregon State, Texas AM and now Oregon.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/09/sports/ncaabasketball/oregon-sabrina-ionescu-united-states-women.html?emc=rss&partner=rss