Fireworks on Fourth of July.

Yesterday in Moscow, the USA U21 team "reign[ed] over Spain" (a bad pun even by BasketCases standards!) by a score of 81-62 for their 4th win in 5 days. Maryland's Laura Harper led the Americans in scoring with 13 points.

This morning, beating Japan (98-57), the USA team completed the sweep of Group B, finishing the preliminary round with a perfect 5-0 record. The USA squad was led by Crystal "All World" Langhorne, who, in a mere 14 minutes of playing time, put up 18 points and pulled down 7 boards. Her Maryland teammate, Laura Harper, picked up where she left off on Tuesday, recording 13 points and 9 rebounds in 18 minutes of play. Every player on the USA roster played for at least 10 minutes, and every player on the USA roster scored at least 3 points . . . All in all, not a bad way to celebrate our nation's birthday!

The USA begins quarterfinal play on Friday against Belgium, which finished preliminary play with a 2-3 record. France is the only team besides the USA that remained unbeaten in the first round.

Congratulations to Laura, to Crystal and to the entire American team . . . Happy 4th of July!

Photo Credit: USA Basketball

Fifth of July Addition: There's no doubt that Maryland fans will sorely miss Harp and Lang and the other seniors when they graduate next spring, but Turtle Nation should survive and thrive, thanks to the strong 2007 & 2008 recruiting classes that Coach B and her staff have landed. Lynetta Kizer, who recently gave the Terps her verbal commitment for 2008, has just completed play at the Nike Skills Academy in Beaverton, Oregon. The Nike Academy brings together an A+ list of prep players each summer for an opportunity to compete and to work on their games. Yesterday on HoopGurlz.com, Glenn Nelson picked his "Swoosh Super Six" from this summer's Academy enrollment. Lynetta made his special "6" and Nelson says that ". . . her footwork was among the best of the post players. She played powerful in competition . . ."