SALAMANCA, Spain – Diana Taurasi had 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and five assists in 15 minutes of action to help the U.S. women's national team beat Senegal 93-51 on Saturday night in its final exhibition game before the world championship begins next week in the Czech Republic.
The United States rebounded from an 83-77 loss to Australia on Friday night.
"I thought that defensively we were much better than we were last night," U.S. coach Geno Auriemma said. "Obviously, the level of competition was much different. We are much more talented than Senegal. I don't want us to be dependent on that. Hopefully, what we brought to the defensive end today is going to be more indicative of how we're going to play. It's evident that unless we're committed, especially on the defensive end, it's going to be very difficult to reach our goal of winning the world championship."
Connecticut star Maya Moore, the only college player on the team, had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Kara Lawson finished with 13 points, and Lindsay Whalen was 5 of 5 from the field and had 11 points.
"After yesterday's performance, I think everyone was really down," Taurasi said. "We wanted to get back on the court and do well and that's what we did."
The United States was 6 of 9 from 3-point range and 39 of 60 overall.
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