No Decaf for these girls!

Without question, the players on the USA Pan American team were wide awake when they tipped off today against Colombia in their first appearance at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio. USA raced out to a 13 point lead in the first 5 minutes and never looked back, winning 95-41.

5 USA players ended up in double figures. Rutgers' Mattee Ajavon led the team with 15 pts, Georgia's Tasha Humphrey followed close behind with 14, and Charde Houston (from some small-town college up North where the winters are freezing and where people's idea of a good time is sitting around huddled in Polartec watching old Diana Taurasi highlight reels) clearly enjoyed Rio's warmer clime, as she recorded the USA team's only double-double (10-10).

Maryland's Marissa Coleman, in just under 19 minutes of playing time, came off the bench to score 9 points, pull down 3 rebounds and dish out 3 assists.

Today's minutes were spead fairly evenly among the 12 players on the USA roster. That should leave the team well rested for their next match, which comes tomorrow at 6:45 pm EDT against Argentina. Then, on Sunday, they will need to load up again on double espressos, as their 3rd game in 3 days will be against the defending Pan American champions from Cuba.