O Canada!
Your home and native land!
True patriots love the skills thy girls command.
With glowing hearts we've seen them rise,
The True North strong and free!
But Canada, from far and wide
You could not guard our threes!
God keep your land glorious and free!
O Canada, you could not stop our threes,
But Canada, we had no trouble guarding thee!

This evening, playing in their fourth game in as many days, team USA faced off against our friends to the North, Canada, in the second semi-final of the 2007 Pan American Games. (Host team Brazil beat Cuba, the defending champs, in the first semi-final.) The USA started slowly, and was actually behind by 4 points at the end of the first quarter. But then the team kicked it into gear, and was up by 17 at the half, 45-28, winning by a final score of 75-59. Angel McCoughtry of Louisville (hello Coach Walz!) led all scorers with 21. After three blazing first games, Maryland's Marissa Coleman had a slower night, hitting just 2 of 3, both from behind the arc, for a total of 6 points.

Tomorrow, the USA faces Brazil in a showdown for the Gold at 2:30pm EDT. The BasketCases sure do wish we could see that game!! What we will be seeing tomorrow, however, is the Mystics taking on Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird, and the rest of the Seattle Storm at the Phone Booth. Perhaps the Mystics will decide to play four quarters of basketball. In any event, Tree Rollins is already lowering expectations for the matchup: "It's going to be a tough game for us."