Team USA Advances to Medal Round of FIBA World Championships
July 29, 2009
Courtesy of USABasketball.com
BANGKOK – The University of Miami’s (Henrietta, N.Y.) scored 12 points and hit a pair of three-pointers in Team USA’s (5-1) 109-68 win over Japan (2-4) in FIBA U19 World Championship second round action on Wednesday afternoon in Bangkok, Thailand. Every member of the U.S. team put points on the board, including six who scored in double digits as the Americans were on fire from 3-point land, hitting 52.6 percent (10-19 3pt FGs) from afar.
Taber Spani (Metro Academy / Lee’s Summit, Mo.), who hit 3-of-6 from 3-point, checked in as the USA’s top scorer with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting overall. Also scoring in double digits off the bench was LaSondra Barrett (Louisiana State / Jackson, Miss.) with 14 points, Kelsey Bone (Dulles H.S. /Stafford, Texas) added 13 points, Samantha Prahalis (Ohio State / Dix Hills, N.Y.) hit a pair of threes and contributed 12, while Skylar Diggins (Washington H.S. / South Bend, Ind.) went 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and finished with 11 points.
Owning a 5-1 record, the U.S. advances as the No. 2 seed out of Group F and will face France (3-3), the No. 3 seed from Group E, in the July 31 medal quarterfinals (4:15 a.m. EDT). Semifinal games are scheduled for Aug. 1 and the gold medal will be contested on Aug. 2.
“Overall this is the best we’ve shot since we’ve been here,” said Carol Owens, USA and Northern Illinois University head coach. “We hit 10-for-19 from the 3-point line and 52 percent from the field. I’m pleased with that. Our goal is to realize that if we have an advantage over a team, we need to be able to execute to make that work in our favor. After we hit some shots they had to guard us from the outside. That left some space for our posts. After we dumped it into our posts, we were able to get it outside and get some shots from there.”
The U.S. put the first points on the board after Nnemkadi Ogwumike (Stanford / Cypress, Texas), who finished with seven points and five boards, hit a pair of free throws at 8:52. Japan tied the game up at 2-all, but behind a Prahalis driving basket and two from Bone on the inside, the U.S. was up 6-2. Japan, which went 9-of-30 from 3-point range in the contest, hit a three to close to a point, 6-5, at 7:43.
Fourteen seconds later, Diggins found herself wide open with the ball on the outside and swished in the first of her threes. After a Japan turnover, Diggins was again allowed to take an uncontested shot from afar and after a Japan three, Diggins hit her third of the game at 6:47 to give the U.S. a 15-8 lead.
“They sagged and we penetrated,” said Diggins. “I was standing there one time, just thinking ‘oh my goodness, should I reverse the ball?’ and she backed up. So I shot it. Coach was like ‘you hit two, let’s see you put it up again.’ They were just falling.”
Diggins’ third trey kicked off a 12-0 run that was capped by a Prahalis three and left the United States in command 24-8 with 4:38 still to play in the first quarter. Continuing to overmatch Japan, the U.S. closed the period up 33-16.
“Japan’s a unique team in that they’re small, they’re quick, they’re great shooters,” said Spani. “They’re really disciplined. We knew this was going to be a focus challenge for us. Obviously the athleticism was a little overmatched in our favor. We were just trying to focus on the little things. Focus on playing our own best game and not so much focusing on Japan once it got to be 25 or 30 points. We were really trying to focus on us and preparing for the medal round.”
The USA, which won all four quarters, went up 58-35 at halftime, 80-52 at the end of the third period and outscored Japan 27-16 in the fourth.
“We pulled away and at halftime we talked about not getting complacent because we were up by so much and that they had to see the big picture,” said Owens. “We knew we needed to use that time to be able to work on some things and be able to work on our defense, especially our man-to-man defense. That was our emphasis, playing to the expectations of our USA team.”
The U.S. finished the game shooting 52.3 percent (45-86 FGs) from the field, while limiting Japan to just 34.7 percent (26-75 FGs) shooting overall and an even 30 percent (9-30 3pt FGs) from beyond the arc. Not only did the Americans dominate the glass by a 49-28 margin, they dished out 19 assists on 45 baskets, scored 64 points in the paint and got nearly half their points, 54, from the bench.
Rateisa Fukano finished as Japan’s top scorer with 15 points, while Yukine Abe scored 12 and Yuka Mamiya and Kana Motoyama each added 10 points.
The other Group F games featured Canada (3-3) defeating China (1-4) 75-67 to advance to the quarterfinals, while Spain (6-0) downed Russia (4-2) 70-54. In Group A action, France (3-3) earned a 73-58 victory over the Czech Republic (3-3), Argentina (4-2) defeated Lithuania (3-3) 61-57, and Australia (6-0) blew out Brazil (2-4) 72-51.
Owens is being assisted by collegiate head coaches Amanda Butler of the University of Florida and Bill Fennelly of Iowa State University.
The 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship features 16 national teams comprised of athletes 19-years-old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1990) that qualified through their FIBA zone tournaments.
