BANGKOK, Thailand – Fran Belibi was perfect from the field on Sunday and the USA U19 Women’s Team remained unscathed in the process at the FIBA U19 World Cup.

The USA  tallied 52 points in the paint and compiled a 55-23 rebounding advantage in an impressive 89-67 win over South Korea in preliminary round action. The USA, which had a four-inch average height advantage over South Korea, got 49 points off of the bench, compared to six points from South Korea’s reserves, and saw all 12 players score.

“It takes a lot of discipline when you’re competing against a team like South Korea that cuts and plays as hard as they do,” said Jeff Walz, USA U19 and University of Louisville head coach. “They pass the ball a lot and don’t dribble a lot. And when you’re able to make a pass and not dribble, it really makes teams have to chase you. So, it took us awhile to get adjusted to that, but then we just used our athleticism to disrupt what they wanted to do. Then gradually we started to get things done and we were able to pull away and get a nice, comfortable lead.”

Belibi led the USA with 18 points on 8-of-8 shooting from the field; Rhyne Howard (Kentucky/Cleveland, Tenn.) hit 5-of-7 from 3 and added 17 points and nine rebounds; Queen Egbo (Baylor/Houston, Texas) tallied 14 points and 11 rebounds; and high school sensation and UConn recruit Paige Bueckers (Hopkins H.S./St. Louis Park, Minn.) dished out seven of the USA’s 25 assists.

“We have a lot of depth and that’s one thing that we have to have, especially playing in tournament like this when you have seven games in nine days,” Walz said. “You’ve got to be able to count on several players, and you’ve got to be smart to know that if someone’s on, you need to give them the ball. Those are things I’m challenging this team with, if someone’s made two shots in a row, get her a third. Overall, I was really pleased with how different players stepped up at different times today.”

The USA led 9-4 to start the game, but Korea responded with six-straight points to take a 10-9 advantage at 5:08. The USA closed the period on a 16-4 run, however, and led 25-14 after the first 10 minutes.

“We started out really aggressive, which is always good,” Belibi said. “We started off a little slow on offense, but our defense helped lead to some easy offensive points. As the saying goes, ‘defense wins championships.’ So, if we can keep up our defense, our offense is going to come. We have a lot of offensive threats on this team, so as long as we keep up our defense, we’ll be fine.”

Howard, who had all 17 of her points by halftime, sank four 3-pointers in the second quarter, which helped the USA to compile 25 points in the period and take a 50-31 lead at the midway point.

Defensively, the USA held South Korea to 12-of-32 from the field (.375) in the first half, and throughout the game, the USA won the rebounding battle. The USA’s rebounding margin at halftime was 30-9.

Egbo led the USA in the third quarter, tallying her 14 points and 11 boards in the period, which saw the USA put together an 11-0 run and increase its lead to as many as 26 points, 68-42. South Korea scored the quarter’s final four points, however, and the USA was ahead 68-46 after three periods.

Rising Texas freshman Celeste Taylor (Long Island Lutheran/Valley Stream, N.Y.), who tallied five points, two rebounds three assists and three steals, put in another strong defensive effort for the U.S. squad and was called out after the game by Walz for her effort.

South Korea’s Jihyun Park played all 40 minutes and scored 26 points.

The USA shot 60% (30-50 FGs) from inside the arc and 50.7% (36-71 FGs) overall and held South Korea on the defensive end to just 26.1% (22-16) of its field goal attempts. The Americans also outscored South Korea 26-9 on second-chance points and 18-8 points on the fast break.

“We definitely took advantage of our size advantage,” Belibi said.

The American will cap its preliminary round competition against Hungary at 1 a.m. EDT on July 23. The game will be available live online at Facebook.com/USABasketball or YouTube.com/FIBA.