U.S. women’s basketball team is in China

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The U.S. women’s basketball team has arrived in China after a 13-hour flight from San Francisco. Unlike the U.S. men’s basketball team, which flew charter, the women made do with a commercial airliner.

Not the easiest way to get some rest, the Associated Press reports, especially for the likes of 6-foot-5 Sylvia Fowles or 6-4 Candace Parker. “We take road trips all the time in the WNBA,” forward DeLisha Milton-Jones said. “This one just happened to be a little further. We’re used to sleeping on planes.”

The team landed in Shanghai and boarded four buses to make the two-hour trip to Haining, the site of the 2008 FIBA Diamond Ball tournament. The AP reports that Lisa Leslie made sure to check on her baby Lauren, who slept the entire bus ride.

The squad will open its pre-Beijing Games tournament play against Japan on Sunday and face Russia on Monday in its second preliminary round Group B game. Teams in Group A include Australia, Mali and China. The finals will be played Tuesday.

Then it’s off to Beijing.