USA women's coach Geno Auriemma stated “No other country in the world has the legacy that we do in basketball, so when we took the court, our 12 players tonight, they had that legacy with them,” “And as the game goes on the other team starts to sense we're not just playing these 12, we're playing something bigger than these 12. And that's a testament to all of the other coaches and all of the other players that contributed to this over the past 20 years.”
As they were headed into the Olympics, team USA realized that they were going to have to work hard regardless of the talents that they had on their team. They never counted anybody out. They was just focused on playing their game. They wanted to keep the foundation going that the past USA women's basketball team had laid for them. Candace Parker stated “You never want to be that team that ends the streak, so I think it was great for us to continue the winning tradition and get another gold medal.” , and they did just that. In the beginning of the tournament, Parker really didn't have a rhythm. As Auriemma decided to bring her off the bench, that seemed to work. No other team seemed to have the spark that they had when it came to Parker. She saved her best game for last too scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 boards in 21 minutes in the gold medal game.
WNBA scoring leader Angel McCoughtry also stepped up to be a key player. Within her limited minutes on the court, she contributed at least 10ppg along with 2 steals. McCoughry stated
“I feel like I’m on top of the world right now, I’m so excited,” “I’ve got a gold medal, my first one. My name is not Angel McCoughtry. It’s Angel McCoughtry, Olympic gold medalist.” Other first-time gold medalists includes Tina Charles, Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, and Asjha Jones. Teresa Edwards, a five-time olympian and member of the 1996 gold medal USA team was there to show her support for the 2012 team, which she was very proud of. Within the next four years the team and the coaches may change, but with the heart and soul that these women have to represent our country will not. 2016 is going to be very interesting in Rio because the foundation is now laid for the future WNBA stars that will be representing the USA.
