Evans among scoring leaders on USA All-Star team

Former James Madison All-America basketball player Dawn Evans (Clarksville, Tenn./Northeast) was one of the leading scorers for the U.S. All-Star Team in its game against the Chinese National Team Monday night.

China got off to a hot shooting start to take an early lead and coasted to a 99-74 victory over the NetScouts Basketball USA All-Stars before a crowd of 3,022.

Evans (JMU ’11), the former Dukes’ point guard, tallied 11 points for the United States and was one of three players to score in double figures.  Former Arizona State player Becca Tobin led the American team with 12 points, and Louisville alumna Becky Burke also scored 11 points.

Monday’s contest was the first of a three-game series called the 2012 Longrich Cup Sino-American Pre-Olympic Challenge.  On Tuesday Team China posted a 100-82 win over the USA team.

In Monday’s game, Team China pulled away early, connecting on 13 of 16 shots in the first quarter, finding open spots in the USA defense and using the team’s height to score in close.  China has six players on their roster 6-6 or taller, and 6-7 lefty Chen Nan showed a nice mid-range touch and shot 9-of-11 to score 18 points.  Team China led 30-16 after the first quarter.

The USA All-Stars made a nice comeback in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to nine points on several occasions helped by aggressive play by Evans and the inside scoring of Tobin. Team China led 53-40 at halftime.

Ma Zengyu led Team China with 26 points on 9-for-13 shooting while Miao Lijie contributed 11 points and nine assists.

The trip is scheduled for June 26 through July 11.

Evans led JMU to the Colonial Athletic Association title in both 2010 and 2011 and is the Dukes’ and the CAA’s all-time leading scorer (2,667 points).  She was the 2011 CAA Player of the Year and the 2011 CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player.  Evans earned Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention in 2010 and 2011.

Earlier this year Evans played in Vienna, Austria, for the Flying Foxes and signed a training camp contract with the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Connecticut Sun.  She trained with the Sun in April and May but was not selected for the Sun’s 2012 roster.