Two weeks after losing in the WNBA Finals, the Detroit Shock guard helped USA Basketball win the FIBA Americas Championship in Valdivia, Chile. Smith had 15 points and four assists Sunday in a 101-71 victory over Cuba that qualified the U.S. team for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, China.

“This was a big deal and we took care of business,” Smith said Monday via phone. As expected, USA Basketball rolled through the Olympic qualifier, winning five games in five days by an average of 40.6 points. Had they lost Sunday, the U.S. team would have had to wait until June to secure a spot, just two months before the Games. Smith averaged 9.6 points, 3.0 assists and shot 40.4 percent from the field in the tournament.

“I didn’t necessarily shoot the ball exceptionally well, but knocked down shots when I got them,” she said. “[I] felt comfortable just playing the game. I felt good and was glad I could contribute with the minutes that I got.” Smith got plenty - third most on the team, in fact (20.4 mpg) - and she started all five games for the star-studded squad.

Still, it was a considerable lighter workload than the one she carried for the Shock in 2007. The team’s extraordinary depth helped Smith and other U.S. players ease into their roles without pressing to produce. “None of us have to play 40 minutes on this team,” she said. “You can just concentrate mentally on what we’re trying to do and go hard for the minutes that you’re on the floor and I thought we did a really nice job of that. One through 12, we all were really in it.”

One in particular, University of Tennessee junior Candace Parker, left an impression. The versatile 6-foot-4 Parker, whose position is listed as “F/C/G” on USA Basketball’s Web site, averaged 13.8 points per game and shot 61.7 percent from the floor. “It’s fun to play with her. Not going to be much fun to play against her, but she’s just a very talented young woman,” Smith said of Parker, who could enter the WNBA Draft in 2007 or 2008. “She’s going to make any team that she goes on pretty special and boost them up a little bit.”

At 33, Smith had likely worn out her first pairs of sneakers when the 21-year-old Parker was born. Smith was the oldest player on the FIBA Americas squad, three months ahead of DeLisha Milton-Jones, with whom she has won Olympic gold twice, in 2000 and 2004. The quest for a third has rejuvenated Smith after playing 45 games this summer, the maximum in a WNBA season. Smith will join USAB for a training trip in Russia this month and then take a break before returning in March to prepare for Beijing. “I can keep rolling for another month,” she said. “I’d love to shut it down in a little while to give the body a break, but I feel good.”

So does USA Basketball, which had to qualify at the FIBA tourney after a third-place showing at the 2006 World Championships. Smith noted the players - nearly all of whom had played with or against each other previously -showed improved chemistry by week’s end. Five days before Sunday’s victory, the U.S. team had defeated the same Cuban squad by only six, 85-79. “Even in just five games we definitely put some good things together and got a feel for each other,” she said.

Not to mention the gold medals around their necks Sunday. USA Basketball is hoping Smith and Co. got a good feel for those, too.