DEBRECEN, Hungary – Team USA came here on a mission to win the FIBA U17 World Championships. They’ve played their three pool games and three bracket matched – all with a winning average of 57 points per game. The closest any team came to the American was the first pool game against African power Mali, 78-49. Mali was also the only team to play the Americans with pace in the third quarter, 10-10.
The USA had three games over 100 pts (New Zealand 102, Korea 114, Japan 112) after the Mali game to get to last night’s cross-border battle with Canada in the Semifinal round. This game, amongst close rivals as many of the same players on Canada play in various USA summer and high school tournaments.
For Canada this was a chance to make a statement and try to catch the Americans dozing after a series of run-away game from the jump. The Canada featured players such as Toby Lee Fournier, Cassandre Prosper, Sumer Lee (DePaul), Summer Bostick (Maryland) and Bre Robinson (Michigan State).
It didn’t matter as the USA jumped out to a 16 point run for a fast 21-3 lead and never looked back. The rest of the game was about playing down the clock in front of numerous Division 1 USA college coaches who flew here to catch this game as they recruit across the border too.
Team USA again has balanced scoring with everyone getting points, five of them in double figures (Jaloni Cambridge 10, Mackenly Randolph 14, Juju Watkins 13, 9 rebounds, Jadyn Donovan 10 and Morgan Cheli 10). Mikaylah Williams and Breya Cunningham added 7 and 6 rounds respectively.
The USA faces Spain tomorrow at 2pm EST (8pm local time) which advanced to the gold medal game upsetting France 66-59. Spain, France, Australia and the USA played each other in early July in a pre-tournament event in Spain
