SYDNEY — The much-anticipated matchup between Utah Starrz teammates Natalie Williams and Margo Dydek on opposing teams at the Sydney Summer Games ended up about as eventful as the Sunday night matchup between the powerhouse United States and Olympic newcomer Poland.
Poland stayed enticingly close to the United States for the first 10 minutes of the 40-minute contest, trailing only 16-12 before a 22-4 U.S. run put the game out of reach. The Americans won 76-57 at The Dome.
The thought of WNBA teammates Williams and Dydek going at it in the contest was alluring, except that the two were on the court at the same time for a whopping five minutes and three seconds midway in the second period.
In fact, Williams saw more of another Dydek — Margo's 6-foot-6 sister, Katarzyna — during a 5:34 stint at the end of the first half, plus another 1:40 in the second half when there were two Dydeks and one Williams on the floor at the same time.
For the record, Williams finished with just two points and three rebounds in her 10:37 playing time against Poland. She added three rebounds, three assists and a pair of misses at the line during her cameo appearance.
And Dydek — who at the Olympics goes by Malgorzata, for those of you keeping score at home — finished with game-highs in points with 24 and rebounds with 10, as well as a blocked shot. That brought her tournament-leading averages to 22.0 points, 12.1 boards and 3.0 blocks a game.
"Of course, it's good to play well," Dydek said, "but it's better when your team wins."
With the loss, Poland dropped to 3-2 after five round-robin games in its six-team group. The Poles qualified for the medal round but must next meet host Australia, the first-place team from the opposite pool.
"I'm happy that we are in the quarterfinals," Dydek said. "But I'll be more happy when our team wins more games."
Williams isn't surprised with Dydek's individual success at the Sydney Olympics, mindful that the 7-foot center is the primary focus on her team's offense. And she can sense why her professional-hoops teammate may excel in an international setting while struggling a bit more with the Starzz during the WNBA season.
"I think the WNBA is a lot more physical," Williams said. "To be honest — and I'm a bit partial — but they don't call a lot of fouls for her in the WNBA. We don't like that. She gets hacked a lot. I think they call a lot more internationally."
Williams said playing against Dydek, who towers almost a foot over the Starzz all-star power forward, was just like a practice. "I like it better when she's on my team," she said, "because I'd rather be throwing her the ball than defending her."
She made sure Dydek didn't add her to a growing list of blocked-shot victims at the Olympics. "I tried to shoot over her. It almost went in," Williams said. "But she didn't get it. I should have gone around her."
Dydek can empathize with her Starzz frontline friend, who is seeing limited playing time and putting up individual stats far below her WNBA standards.
"Her team is more competitive," Dydek said. "There are so many good players at her position, and everybody wants to play and everybody wants to score. Of course, you don't have that many minutes."
Williams is having to share time with the likes of Yolanda Griffith and Lisa Leslie, both of whom had strong outings against Poland. Griffith shared team-high scoring honors with Sheryl Swoopes at 16 points apiece, with Griffith adding a game-high 12 rebounds. Leslie finished with 14 points and nine boards.
The Americans blitzed undefeated through their pool. Next up for the United States is a quarterfinal pairing with Slovakia, the fourth-place team from the opposite group.
Also on the Polish national team is a former Starzz player. Krystyna Szmanska-Lara scored two points and added an assist and a steal as a reserve guard playing almost 11 minutes.
E-MAIL: taylor@desnews.com