Charles Leads Team USA Women Over Serbia At World University Games

UConn Huskies junior center Tina Charles had 17 points and added 5 rebounds to help the Team USA Women to an 84-50 win over host Serbia at the World University Games.

Team USA wrapped up preliminary play at 3-0 and will be the top seed for Group A in the second round. They will take on Poland, the No. 2 seed from Group D, on Saturday at 5:30 PM local time (11:30 AM EDT).

Charles’ UConn teammate Tiffany Hayes chipped in with 6 points and a team-high 5 assists.

Maya Moore missed her third straight game with a sore right knee and is still listed as day-to-day.

Here are some quotes from Charles courtesy of USA Basketball:

Were you excited to play Serbia?
We knew they were going to come out hard and aggressive, and they did, but we stayed together and the coaches helped us keep our composure. It felt great to get the win, knowing this was a team effort. Everybody scored and everybody contributed.

Is the team chemistry where it should be?
In the beginning, people weren’t sure where other people wanted the ball, and we were slow on rotations, but I think we are starting to gel together and pick it up.

On the USA defense:
I think our defense has really improved. We are definitely doing better on help side defense and listening to each other.