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August 28, 2004 2:46 pm

U.S. women bring home more basketball gold

By ANN GREEN

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece - How about this for a Dream Team?

The U.S. women did what the men couldn't, packing up basketball gold to bring home from Athens by beating Australia, 74-63, Saturday at Olympic Indoor Hall.

And then they didn't rub it in.

``I'm not thinking at all about whether we are better than the men's team,'' said Tamika Catchings, who played at the University of Tennessee and is with the WNBA's Indiana Fever. ``I know we are very lucky to be getting the gold medal and getting up on that podium.''

Russia, the gold medalist in the 1992 Barcelona games, took the bronze with a 71-62 win over Brazil earlier in the day.

The U.S. women's team included five Olympic veterans and seven newcomers.It was the third straight gold medal for the American women and the fifth in seven trips to the Olympics.

Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes climbed on the Olympic podium to accept gold medals for the third time in their careers.

The women celebrated with the traditional victory lap around the court, arm-in-arm.

Staley and Tina Thompson, who combined for a team-leading 14 and 18 points respectively, held up the ends of an American flag to keep it from dragging on the floor and joined the parade.

The gold medal game was a rematch of the women's final in Sydney four years ago when the U.S. routed Australia by 22 points.

In front of a rowdy bunch of their fans, the Aussies made a game of it this time around, particularly early in the third quarter, when Lauren Jackson made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 29-29.

But a key part of the U.S. attack was holding Jackson, who'd been averaging 24 points in the previous seven games, to just 12.

In the fourth quarter, the U.S defense took charge, leaving Australia scoreless for five minutes except for a free throw.

Two other U.S. players were in double figures: Lisa Leslie with 13 points and Shannon Johnson with 12.

Staley, the Charlotte Sting veteran, had the understatement of the post-game interviews.

``I think I showed that I still have a little offense left in me,'' she said. ``I got to hit a couple of shots, and Lisa even passed the ball down low, which she hasn't done in 16 years. That was great.''

When the Americans finished their pre-medal ceremony celebration, the Australians did their own victory lap, spearheaded by Jackson, with her torn jersey flapping from her shoulder as she ran.

``We are going to work very hard, and I'm going to give it my best to be ready for the next Olympics,'' Jackson said.

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