BUCARAMANGA, Colombia — The 2024 United States U18 Women’s team made it look easy … really easy.
United States won the FIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup gold medal with an 80-69 victory over Canada at Coliseo Bicentenario. The hardware adds to the USA’s collection of 11 consecutive gold medals (12 overall) dating back to 2000. The American women are now 71-2 overall in FIBA WU18 competition.
In the North American teams’ fifth consecutive championship clash, the USA and Canada opened up a showcase of back-and-forth surges.
Both units entered the match up undefeated for the week, and the first frame saw their offenses trade buckets.
Sunday’s championship was the cherry on top of a week’s worth of success at the 2024 FIBA Women’s U18 AmeriCup. The U.S. completed a perfect 6-0 stint, winning each by an average of 67.8 points. The American squad’s 628 total points cements their place in the history book, as the most points totaled all-time by a USA team at the tournament, which began in 1988.
“Give credit to Canada today for coming out and really testing us because we hadn’t been tested up until this point,” USA head coach Teri Moren said. “Our kids have been resilient, they have been locked into what we are trying to do, and, on a day where Canada gave us their best shot, I thought we responded and had some timely plays. We picked up our defense in the second half, which led to runouts, which gave us a little bit of cushion there towards the end.”
Center Sienna Betts took command of the low block early for the U.S., impressing with her inside footwork to supply eight first quarter points. She put forth a near-double-double effort, collecting 15 points and 9 rebounds for the game. A corner 3-ball by Kennedy Smith at the first horn put the Americans up 23-14 after the first 10 minutes of action.
Joyce Edwards, 6 foot 3 South Carolina signee, was named Most Valuable Player of the AmeriCup after averaging 13.8 points (66.7% FG), 6.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks in 15.9 minutes.
The Canadians rallied in the second quarter after trailing by nine points (23-14) after one. But it was the Americans who got the last word of the half, with yet another buzzer-beating triple — this time, it was Edwards with a top-of-the-key swish to give the USA a 39-36 edge. She finished the final recording a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Kennedy Smith was another star of the third quarter — and of the entire night. Her three consecutive breakaway layups off of her teammates’ steals towards the end of the third gave her unit a 58-51 advantage to start the fourth period and fueled the momentum that eventually drove the Americans through the rest of the game. Smith led the U.S. in scoring on the evening with 18 points (8-13 FG, 1-3 3FG, 1-2 FT), 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
Smith, who enters her freshman year at USC in the fall, added the USA’s last 6 points in the of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter brought life to the USA’s poised point guard Kayleigh Heckel — she wreaked havoc in the lane, performing under the pressure late. After Nyadieng Yiech punched in a timely three-pointer for Canada at the 7:36 mark of the fourth to bring the gap to three points, 60-57, it was Heckel’s midrange jumper response that energized the Americans to shake the Canadians. The USC-bound guard finished with 13 points
Canada and Argentina joined the Americans on the podium, with silver and bronze medal finishes, respectively. The three programs, along with fourth place Brazil, have punched their tickets to the 2025 FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup in the Czech Republic next summer.
–From USA Basketball Communications
