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USA Basketball U19 Squad Named Team of the Year
1/18/2012 1:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball
DURHAM, N.C. - Blue Devil freshman Elizabeth Williams helped lead the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship Team to a gold medal last summer and on Wednesday USA Basketball announced that the USA Women's U19 World Championship Team as the 2011 USA Basketball Team of the Year.
Topping opponents by an average of 16.6 points per game during the July 21-31 tournament in Puerto Montt, Chile, the U.S. finished 8-1 to capture the gold medal and stand atop the FIBA U19 World Championship podium for a fourth-straight time.
"With limited opportunity to practice before the tournament, there is no guarantee that a national team will have time to come together and create enough chemistry to win at a world championship level," said Jennifer Rizzotti, USA U19 and University of Hartford head coach, as well as the 2011 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year. "This young group was unique because everyone had USA Basketball experience, but they had played at different age groups the year before. They were impressive because they found a way to come together, find different roles and become a determined, competitive basketball team. I think we all were willing to learn a lot from each other and trust each other so that we could accomplish our ultimate goal of winning a gold medal."
Williams, who is out of Virginia Beach, Va., averaged 8.9 points and 5.0 rebounds as she started 6-of-9 contests. She hit 52.3 percent of her field goals during the tournament.
The USA Basketball Board of Directors is responsible for selecting USA Basketball's annual coach, player and team of the year awards.
Opening preliminary round play with an 85-63 win over Japan, the USA next downed Russia 76-53, followed by an 83-49 defeat of Argentina. In the second round, the USA downed China 80-77 and topped Italy 94-60 before falling to Canada 64-52. Rebounding with a 70-64 win over France in the quarterfinals, the USA beat Brazil 82-66 in the semifinals and Spain 69-46 in the gold medal game.
The USA built a +16.7 rebounding advantage, while the U.S. defense limited foes to just 60.2 ppg. and 33.2 percent shooting overall.
Among the 15 teams, the U.S. ranked first in eight of 15 major team statistical categories, including points averaged (76.8 ppg.); scoring margin (+16.6 ppg.); rebounding margin (+16.7 rpg.); field goal percentage (.430); assists (16.9 apg.); blocked shots (3.9 bpg.); offensive rebounds (17.1 rpg.); and defensive rebounds (33.8 rpg.).
The 2011 squad also set a USA women's U19 single-game record by shooting 93.8 percent from the free throw line (15-16 FTs) against France.
Representing the United States at the FIBA U19 World Championship were: Jordan Adams (Mater Dei H.S./Irvine, Calif.); Cierra Burdick (Tennessee/Butler H.S./Matthews, N.C.); Diamond DeShields (Norcross H.S./Norcross, Ga.); Stefanie Dolson (Connecticut/Port Jervis, N.Y.); Bria Hartley (Connecticut/North Babylon, N.Y.); Alexis Jones (Irving MacArthur H.S./Irving, Texas); Arial Massengale; Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (Connecticut/Mater Dei H.S./Anaheim, Calif.); Imani Stafford (Winward H.S./Los Angeles, Calif.); Breanna Stewart; Morgan Tuck (Bolingbrook H.S./Bolingbrook, Ill.); and Williams (Duke/Princess Anne H.S./ Virginia Beach, Va.).
Serving as assistant coaches were Sue Semrau of Florida State University and Joi Williams of the University of Central Florida. The same trio of coaches helped the USA earn its 2011 U19 World Championship berth with a 5-0 record and gold medal at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.
Prior to the 2011 tournament, the 15 finalists for the 2011 USA U19 World Championship Team downed the Brazil U19 National Team 49-37 in an exhibition game on June 5 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resorts in Orlando, Fla. As part of the ESPN Rise Girls Showcase, the exhibition game culminated a week of training camp for 15 finalists.
This year's announcement marks the 16th time USA Basketball has presented the Team of the Year Award, which first was earned in 1996 by the historic USA Women's National Team/Olympic Team.
In 2010, USA Basketball recognized the USA Men's and Women's FIBA World Championship Teams following perfect records and gold medal performances in Turkey and Czech Republic, respectively.
The honor also was earned by the 2009 USA Men's U19 World Championship Team; the 2008 U.S. Men's and Women's Olympic Teams; the 2007 USA Men's Senior National Team and USA Women's National Team; the 2006 Men's Senior National Team; the 2005 USA Women's FIBA U19 World Championship Team; 2000 and 2004 USA Women's Senior National/Olympic teams; the 2003 USA World Championship for Young Women Team; the 1998 and 2002 USA Women's World Championship squads; the 2001 USA World Championship For Young Men Team; 1999 USA Men's Tournament of the Americas Team; and the 1997 USA Women's Junior World Championship Team.
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