Buenos Aires, Argentina - June 7-11, 2017

---

The 2017 USA Women’s U16 National Team recaptured the gold medal and earned a perfect 5-0 record from June 7-11 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The victorious campaign followed the USA women’s first and only loss in U16 history, which came in the 2015 semifinals.

2017 USA RESULTS (5-0) USA 91 Colombia 33 USA 100 Mexico 37 USA 79 Puerto Rico 32 USA 98 Argentina 42 USA 91 Canada 47 2017 U16 FINAL STANDINGS 1. *USA (5-0) 5. Mexico (3-2) 2. *Canada (4-1)  6. Venezuela (2-3) 3. *Argentina (3-2) 7. Puerto Rico (1-4) 4. *Colombia (2-3)  8. Dominican Republic (0-5)  *Qualified for the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup.

In its first game against Colombia on June 7, the USA recorded a 91-33 rout. Aliyah Boston had 17 points and nine rebounds; Samantha Brunelle added 13 points, five assists and seven boards; Caitlin Clark was 3-of-3 from 3-point on her way to 11 points; and Paige Bueckers and Kylee Watson each scored 10 points. The USA outrebounded Colombia 64-36 and forced 25 turnovers.

After a one-point lead in the first quarter, the USA relied on a full-court press to pull away from Mexico for a 100-37 win on June 8, which was the first 100-point win by a USA U16 women’s team since 2013, when it defeated Mexico 101-29. Bueckers set a U.S. single-game record for field goal percentage, shooting 7-of-7 on her way to 15 points. Brunelle had 18 points and 11 rebounds; Fran Belibi tallied 12 points and seven boards; and Boston added 10 rebounds. The USA had 23 assists and just 12 turnovers.

The USA easily defeated Puerto Rico 79-32 on June 9 to wrap up preliminary round play. Despite shooting 30.9 percent from the field and turning the ball over 27 times, the USA compiled a 70-38 rebounding advantage and scored 30 points in transition while forcing Puerto Rico into 43 turnovers. The U.S. set an American women’s U16 record for steals with 25, while Boston, who finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, tied the record for free throw percentage with a 5-of-5 performance from the line.

The USA played its way into the gold medal game with a 98-42 win over host Argentina on June 10. The USA led 40-27 at halftime but  ran away with the game in the third quarter. At 3:58 in the third, the USA mounted a 39-0 run while holding Argentina scoreless from 4:33 in the third until 4:31 in the fourth – at total of 10:02. After setting a record for steals the day before, the U.S. team upped that high, tallying 27 steals. The U.S. also set a record for free throws attempted with 37. All 12 U.S. players scored. Zia Cooke and Celeste Taylor each had 12 points; Clark and Jordan Horston added 11; and Brunelle had 10 points.

A 20-0 run to close the second quarter helped propel the USA to a 91-46 win over Canada in the gold medal game on June 11. The U.S. defense held Canada to just 29.0 percent shooting from the field (18-62 FGs) and forced 31 turnovers. Azzi Fudd led the USA with 18 points; Cooke had 15 points; Bueckers added 11; and Diamond Miller contributed 10 points.

Boston, who finished with 15 points and six rebounds against Canada, averaged team-highs of 11.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game throughout the tournament and was named MVP.

Argentina outlasted Colombia 59-52 in overtime to earn bronze. The USA, Canada, Colombia and Argentina qualified for the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup.

2017 USA WOMEN'S U16 NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER

NAME	POS	HGT	WGT	AGE	YOG	SCHOOL	HOMETOWN
Fran Belibi	F	6-1	185	15	2019	Regis Jesuit High School	Centennial, CO
Aliyah Boston	F	6-4	180	15	2019	Worcester Academy	Worcester, MA
Samantha Brunelle	F	6-3	165	16	2019	William Monroe High School	Ruckersville, VA
Paige Bueckers	G	5-11	130	15	2020	Hopkins High School	Eden Prairie, MN
Caitlin Clark	G	5-11	140	15	2020	Dowling Catholic High School	West Des Moines, IA
Zia Cooke	G	5-8	130	16	2019	Rogers High School	Toledo, OH
Azzi Fudd	G	5-11	150	14	2021	Potomac School	Falls Church, VA
Jordan Horston	G	6-1	139	16	2019	Columbus Africentric Early College	Columbus, OH
Diamond Miller	F	6-1	140	16	2019	Franklin High School	Somerset, NJ
Jordyn Oliver	G	5-10	160	16	2019	Prosper High School	Prosper, TX
Celeste Taylor	G	5-11	156	15	2019	Long Island Lutheran High School	Valley Stream, NY
Kylee Watson	F	6-4	180	15	2020	Mainland Regional High School	Linwood, NJ
Head Coach: Carla Berube, Tufts University
Assistant Coach: Steve Gomez, Lubbock Christian University
Assistant Coach: Vanessa Nygaard, Windward School, California
Team Physician: Bill Kuprevich, Bloomsburg, PA
Athletic Trainer: Summer McKeehan, Duke University

 

2017 USA WOMEN'S U16 NATIONAL TEAM CUMULATIVE STATISTICS

NAME	G/S	MIN	FGM-A	PCT	3PM-A	PCT	FTM-A	PCT	REB	PTS	AT	TO	BK	ST
Boston	5/5	84/16.8	25-46	.543	0-0	.---	9-13	.692	43/ 8.6	59/11.8	1	6	8	12
Brunelle	5/5	114/22.8	16-55	.291	9-26	.346	14-15	.933	35/ 7.0	55/11.0	15	9	11	7
Bueckers	5/0	88/17.9	24-39	.625	1-7	.144	6-9	.667	14/ 2.8	55/11.0	11	5	1	15
Cooke	5/5	82/16.4	17-37	.459	7-11	.636	13-24	.542	16/ 3.2	54/10.8	11	10	0	8
Clark	5/0	72/14.4	15-41	.366	10-26	.385	4-6	.667	11/ 2.2	44/ 8.8	11	4	2	7
Fudd	5/0	96/19.2	17-43	.395	6-20	.300	0-0	.---	12/ 2.4	40/ 8.0	12	8	3	17
Miller	5/0	82/16.4	10-19	.526	3-10	.300	9-12	.750	28/ 5.6	32/ 6.4	5	9	3	10
Horston	5/5	106/21.2	12-49	.245	1-7	.144	3-6	.500	21/ 4.2	28/ 5.6	17	8	5	8
Watson	5/0	64/12.8	10-12	.833	0-0	.---	6-10	.600	14/ 2.8	26/ 5.2	1	5	2	2
Belibi	5/0	55/11.0	11-22	.500	0-0	.---	2-7	.286	29/ 5.8	24/ 4.8	2	5	2	6
Taylor	5/5	94/18.8	9-31	.290	4-10	.400	2-8	.250	19/ 3.8	24/ 4.8	8	12	3	5
Oliver	5/0	63/12.6	8-25	.320	0-1	.000	2-5	.400	18/ 3.6	18/ 3.6	3	4	1	5
USA	5	1000	174-419	.415	41-118	.347	70-115	.609	296/59.2	459/91.8	97	86	41	102
Opp.	5	1000	67-286	.234	18-70	.257	38-68	.559	187/37.4	190/38.0	33	169	15	41