After edging Mali in its Olympic opener, the New Zealand Olympic team better known as the Tall Ferns lost to Spain 85-62.

Future UConn center Jessica McCormack, who will enroll at Connecticut following the Olympics, played just 12 minutes, missed both of her field-goal attempts and had no rebounds for New Zealand. Jillian Harmon, who helped Stanford reach the national championship game, led the Tall Ferns with 22 points. Isabel Sanchez had 19 points and Anna Montanana added 18 points for Spain.

Former UConn star Svetlana Abrosimova and Russia is set to take on Korea in a game scheduled to start around 2:30 a.m. Monday morning Eastern time. The U.S., featuring ex Huskies Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, play against China at 8 p.m. Sunday night Beijing time which is 8 a.m. Monday morning in Connecticut.

While the next item has nothing to do with basketball, it is worth mentioning nonetheless since Masuk softball pitching phenom will soon be a pitching star in college.

Fico, who is obliterating the Connecticut high school softball record book or at least would be obliterating it if there were such a thing as a Connecticut high school record book somehow avoided the Sports Illustrated Jinx. Earlier this week Fico appeared in SI's Faces in the Crowd. On Sunday she came on in relief and pitched the Gold Coast Hurricanes to the Amateur Softball Association 18-and-under Gold national title. Here is the item which will be appearing in Monday's edition of the Register.

Oxford's Rachele Fico, a two-time Register State Softball Most Valuable Player, was the winning pitcher as the Gold Coast Hurricanes of Plantation, Fla. defeated the Corona Angels Tyson 6-5 in the championship game of the Amateur Softball Association 18-and-under Gold National Tournament Sunday in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Fico came on for Hurricanes' ace pitcher Stephanie Brombacher in the fourth inning. Fico, a rising senior at Masuk, allowed one hit, one run and struck out two in 3 1/3 innings. Fico was the winner as Kelsey Horton doubled to lead off the bottom of the seventh, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on Kelley Smiley's fielder's choice to break the 5-5 tie and give the Hurricanes the national title.

Brombacher, who was 20-0 as a freshman at the University of Florida, and Fico, who has orally committed to Louisiana State, combined to toss three shutouts and allow just two runs in the first five games in the championship bracket.

Another team Fico played for this summer wasn't as fortunate. The Stratford Brakettes were trying to win five elimination games on Sunday to win the ASA Women's Major Fast Pitch National Tournament for the third straight year and an unprecedented 29th time. But after beating the New York Xtreme 2-1 on a walk-off two-run homer by UMass catcher Jess Serio and rolling past the Lady Explorers of Midland, Michigan 12-0, the Brakettes championship bid was ended by Mother Nature. The combination of lightning strikes and steady rain in the Buffalo area forced the tournament to be called. The Southern California Hurricanes of Irvine, Calif. were the only remaining undefeated team and were declared the champions.

The Brakettes can't complain too loudly about the way the title was awarded since in the 2007 event it won the title under the identical circumstances. The biggest question surrounding the Brakettes is whether they will be back for a 63rd season. Without a primary sponsor, the franchise relied on the large crowd which turned out for the game against the U.S. Olympic team and money raised during the season. One has to wonder how long the team can go on without a sponsor to foot the bill. It was encouraging news to hear that Stratford did put in a bid to host the 2010 ASA nationals, a sign that they plan on sticking around.