Charles, Hayes Lead Team USA To 37-Point Win Over Czech Republic

It was a great afternoon for UConn Huskies women’s basketball players Tina Charles and Tiffany Hayes as they combined for 36 points in a 115-78 win for Team USA over the Czech Republic at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia.

Charles led all scorers with 20 points and added 6 rebounds in just 18 minutes of action. Hayes chipped in with 16 points and 2 rebounds in 16 minutes.

Team USA advances to the medal round semifinals and will take on Australia on Thursday, July 9th.

Here are some quotes from Charles and Hayes courtesy of USA Basketball:

Tina Charles (Connecticut / Jamaica, N.Y.)

On today’s game:
I think we always want to come out aggressive and be the one that sets the tone, be the one that pushes first before they push us. I think we did a great job with that.

On her play today:
I’m just trying to get better and do whatever I can do to help my team win. Especially I have to get better on my free throws. I think I shot like 50 percent, it was really bad. I’m going to have to work on that in practice.

On advancing to the semifinals:
It feels great, especially with this team because we’ve worked so hard since trials and training camp. Everybody’s been wanting it. Everybody came out here hard and I’m really proud to see it.

Tiffany Hayes (Connecticut / Lakeland, Fla.)

On her 3-point shooting against the Czech Republic:
It’s a matter of working on it in practice. The other day we got a lot of shots up. I was just focused on finishing, I haven’t been doing that lately. Basically it was concentration.

You got into some foul trouble tonight:
Yeah, they were some stupid fouls on my part. I had to play disciplined and not get that fifth foul.

On advancing to the semifinals against Australia:
It feels really good right now to be in the position we’re in. Especially knowing all the hard work that all of us have been through, starting in Colorado with the training camp and whatnot. It’s good for us to be in this position because we know as a team how hard we worked.

As for Australia, we have to go into that game with the mentality that we haven’t played them, that we didn’t blow them out (in a pre-tournament scrimmage). We have to go in there and play our hardest, don’t have a big head going to the game. We need to make sure we go there and do what we need to do to get the win.