PITTSBURGH - Although it read San Diego 33, Butler Cubs 19, the scoreboard didn't tell the real story Thursday.

The Butler Cubs age 60-to-64 women's basketball team had just lost for the second time in five games this week at the University of Pittsburgh's Petersen Events Center during the 2005 Summer National Senior Games.

Both losses were at the hands of the San Diego, Calif., squad. The other loss was a 35-29 decision.

"They're taller than us, three or four inches per player," said Carol McCollough of Chicora. "We tried to slow them down, but when they came right at us … we couldn't stop them."

"I'm 5-foot-8 and I'm our tallest player," said Jane Amiotte of the Butler Cubs team. "But I've never played basketball before."

San Diego has been sending seven women's basketball teams to the national games since 1995. Its organization has 100 women to choose from.

San Diego women's basketball teams return home with an average of three gold medals each year the Summer Senior National Games are held.

"They play in a 56-team league," McCollough said. "They're used to playing competitively. We have nothing like that around here - and it showed."

Audrey Pastore is the board secretary for the San Diego Senior Sports Festival and its women's basketball commissioner.

She said organization has basketball players ranging in age from 50 to 80.

"We have a league that plays at the YMCA every Sunday," Pastore said. "We have three different divisions - A, B and C - that women compete in, based on their skill level.

"They learn the game at one level, then move on to another. It's been a pretty good system. The key is to give the women entering the program a positive start, encouragement, reasons to continue.

"Once you lose them, you lose them forever. And at the ages we're dealing with, injuries can happen and it's important to keep bringing new blood in," Pastore added.

Pastore described San Diego as a "melting pot" with a wide range of players.

"People move there from all over the country," she said. "I'm from the south, we get people from Pennsylvania, Idaho, Indiana, you name it.

"We have some former college players, we have women who never picked up a basketball until they were 60 years old. There's a spot for everyone."

Connie Haswell plays on the Butler Cubs age 65-to-69 team that dropped its first three games of the tournament, bowing to North Carolina, New Orleans and Colorado.

"I've enjoyed playing, but some of the other teams are more organized than us, they're bigger and stronger," Haswell said.

"They've been playing together a lot longer than we have, and that makes a difference."

The Cubs 50-to-54 team won six of its eight games and placed seventh out of 25 teams. It defeated the Illinois entrant by scores of 51-8 and 61-11.

The Cubs 55-to-59 team failed to win a game and its 70-and-over team won two of its first three games, winning a double-overtime contest against Charlotte, N.C., Wednesday and nipping the Texas entrant, 12-10, on a buzzer-beating shot Thursday.

"Two of the women on our 70-over team have 17 children between them and they were here rooting them on," Butler Cubs coach Don McCollough said.

"One player has a combined 20 children and grandchildren. They were here hollering, holding up signs, it was a sight to see."

Carol McCollough said the women's games are more physical than the men's.

"The difference is most of the women out here never played organized basketball during their youth, so they don't have good technique on defense," she said. "As a result, there's a lot of rough, physical contact and players getting knocked to the floor.

"But we get right back up," she quickly added.

While the Butler Cubs senior women's basketball teams are certainly competitive in the national games - the four teams combined to split its first 24 games through Thursday - it remains to be seen if they will reach the point of habitually competing for gold medals.

"It's a dream, but we can do it," player Kathy Blair said. "We need to develop competition to play against regularly during the year. That's a big step."

McCollough agreed.

"Teams from Louisiana, California, they practice and play two or three times a week, two hours each time, all year," she said. "We practice Tuesdays and Saturdays, but our players are so spread out that we hardly ever get everyone together at the same time.

"Our 60-64 team had three practices together all year. That makes it tough, but we're out here and we're trying."