Daily Swish: Team USA survives, Liz Cambage's injury, and the Mighty Macs are returning to the Garden

Here are some links to start your Saturday off right, so I'll just cut to the chase:

Team USA's win over Australia

John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant has a recap on Friday's Team USA victory over Australia - The final score was 72-66, and the game was too close for comfort. That being said, Team USA was up by as many as 16 points with 7:36 left in the fourth quarter. Team USA coach Geno Auriemma gave his explanation as to why Team USA was in a funk. "We’re kind of in a little bit of a quandary. We obviously want to win the game, which is priority No. 1. But it’s a little unusual that priority No. 1-A is trying to get 15 players somewhat significant playing time as opposed to garbage time. So there’s no offensive flow, it’s tough on defense and we looked like it at times. But we’re trying to put our team together."

In the USA/Australia Opals game, Liz Cambage was injured, and it is feared that she may have torn her achilles tendon - With Lauren Jackson already out, Cambage is now a major part for the Opals' success. Link to our piece.

Speaking about Lauren Jackson, Jon Tuxworth of The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Australian center says that she "doesn't have anything to prove to anyone" in regards to her comeback from injury - Jackson is still recovering from injury and will miss the first few games of the WNBL season for the Canberra Capitals. I know she's been injured quite a bit the last few years, but the 2014 FIBA World Championships is the first international tournament she has missed since 1998.

WNBA

Jake Elman of SportsBlog.com had an interview with New York Liberty guard Cappie Pondexter - Pondexter was interviewed via Google Hangout with Vaden Hoffman of SportsBlog, Rich Winter of Panic Button, Kate Bennert from WNBA.com, and Latoya Sterling from the WNBA Player's Association. She talked about her offseason plans and her endeavors in fashion.

Tulsa Shock forward Jordan Hooper had her number retired at her high school - Hooper played at Alliance High School in Alliance, Nebraska. She won a state title in 2007, and also was the State Player of the Year twice. Link to the Tulsa World.

Hal Boedeker reports on former WNBA player Vanessa Hayden, who was on "The Biggest Loser: Glory Days" on NBC - While Hayden was eliminated in Week 2, she lost 45 pounds from her original weight of 366. Hayden called her experience on the show a major life change saying that ""I wasn't there for the money. I want to be healthy. I want to be fit ... I'm doing this for a lifestyle change. I'm not doing this for TV."

The Reno Gazette-Journal is reporting that Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve will be part of a coaching clinic at the University of Nevada - The clinic is from October 10 to October 11. This link is more or less an advertisement for coaches. Still, it's newsworthy since a two-time WNBA championship winning coach will be part of it.

College

Doug Feinberg of the AP reports that Immaculata University and Queens College (NY) will headline the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden on January 4, 2015 - The game would mark the 40th anniversary of the first women's basketball game played there, when both Immaculata and Queens played, where the Mighty Macs won, 65-61. Today Queens College is an NCAA Division II school, while Immaculata is a Division III school, so I'd guess that Queens has the edge in this game. The Classic will also have a Division I match with UConn and St. John's, which will be the bigger draw obviously, but this rematch certainly caught my eye.

Dan Olson contributed to espnW that Aliyah Mazyck, a Top-20 national prospect, will head to the University of Southern California in 2015 - Mazyck also considered Texas A&M in her recruiting process. She said, "All of the programs that recruited me were excellent schools. I ultimately went with Southern Cal because I felt they never wavered in their desire to have me. I want to learn to be a better point guard and I know I will be challenged by Coach Cooper and learn from her through the experiences she has had."

Miscellaneous

You may be wondering why our avatar on Twitter and Facebook have changed - While that was a voluntary decision, Sarah Kogod of the Mothership gave a quick article that Vox Media, which owns the Mothership, has partnered with Generation Progress to support the "It's On Us" campaign. In her word's it's " a movement aimed at changing the way we think about sexual assault ... It's the acknowledgement that sexual assault isn't just an issue involving a victim and a perpetrator, but one that involves us all."

Kate Fagan of ESPN has written a column that U.S. Soccer women's national team goalie Hope Solo should be suspended from play immediately - Solo was recently arrested in June for allegedly being involved in a domestic violence incident. While the NFL has been the focus of domestic violence given the issues that Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson face, it is also important to note that women are also perpetrators of domestic violence.

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