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August 16, 2004 2:00 pm

Leslie leads U.S. women over Czech Republic

By SCOTT PITONIAK

Gannett News Service

HELLINIKO, Greece - The U.S. women's basketball players sat in the stands at Helliniko Indoor Arena Sunday night and watched in horror as their male counterparts were upset by Puerto Rico.

"It was sad to see because we're all on the same team really,'' said forward Tamika Catchings. "I guess you could say it was a motivating factor for us. We didn't want it to happen to us, too.''

Not to worry. Despite trailing late in the first quarter by seven points, the U.S. women kept their Olympic roll going, cruising to an 80-61 victory Monday over the Czech Republic on the same court the men had lost on the night before.

Paced by center Lisa Leslie's 15-point, 10-rebound performance, the Americans dominated inside, out-rebounding the 2003 European Cup silver medalists, 43-22. That translated into a 46-10 scoring advantage in the paint.

"I think the real key was the way we came out in the second half,'' said Catchings, the former Tennessee All-American and WNBA rookie of the year who finished with nine points and six rebounds.

"Coach (Van Chancellor) had harped on the importance of that at halftime. He said we needed to go out and establish ourselves.''

Catchings tossed in a 3-pointer 43 seconds into the third quarter, igniting a 9-point run that gave the United States an insurmountable 16-point advantage. The Americans eventually ran the lead to 24 points before Chancellor called off the dogs.

"The American team was as strong as we expected,'' said Zuzana Klimesova, who led the Czech Republic with 18 points. "I played there for six years, and in my opinion they brought the best they had. The game was fun to watch and to play for us at the beginning, but, unfortunately, the U.S. continued at the same pace in the second half.''

Now 2-0, the Americans have outscored their opponents by 71 points and have improved their Olympic record to 33-1 since 1976.

But don't expect the two-time defending gold medalists to become cocky. They saw what happened to their inexperienced men's teammates the other night.

"We all believe the guys will bounce back, but we don't want to put ourselves into a hole the way they did,'' said former Connecticut star Diana Taurasi, who finished with 10 points and five rebounds off the bench. "We'd prefer not to be in that situation. That makes it really tough.''

The U.S. women play Spain (2-0) Friday.

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