Gwangju, South Korea • July 5-13, 2015

With Northwestern University’s Joe McKeown at the helm, the 2015 USA Women's World University Games Team traveled to South Korea and brought home a sixth-straight gold medal for the USA.

The Americans opened with an 80-68 win over Italy on July 5. Though it committed 33 turnovers, the U.S. outscored Italy 52-20 in the paint and won the rebounding battle 51-27. Erica McCall had 22 points and a game-high 18 rebounds, Aerial Powers also finished with 22 points and Jordin Canada contributed seven assists and six steals.

In a 90-75 win over China the next day, the USA scored 62 points in the paint and had only 16 turnovers. Courtney Williams led with 18 points, Russell had 14 points and 15 rebounds, Canada and McCall had 12 points each and Powers finished with 10.

The USA wrapped up preliminary play with a 92-54 win over Czech Republic on July 7. While shooting 54.8 percent, the USA held Czech to just 27.9 percent. Russell finished with 18 points and 12 boards, and Brionna Jones added 13 points and 13 boards.

In the quarterfinals on July 9, the USA held Hungary to 26.7 percent from the field and 16 points total the second half to secure an 84-43 win. Jones had 15 points and seven boards, McCall had 14 points and Sydney Wiese and Nina Davis scored 13 and 10 points, respectively. Canada had seven assists and six steals.

After trailing by 15 points during its semifinal against Japan, the USA won 102-98 in double-overtime on July 10. It was just the second overtime in U.S. women’s WUGs history and the first double-overtime. Russell scored to give the USA a 77-75 lead with 1:07 to go, but Japan tied the game with 10.5 seconds left, and the fourth quarter ended with the score at 77-all. Still tied with 10 seconds to go in overtime, Canada missed a shot, and Russell came up with the rebound, but her shot missed. McCall was fouled on that rebound but missed two free throws, and the game went into double-overtime. Just 19 seconds into the second overtime, McCall scored, and the USA never again trailed, though it remained tight. With 10 seconds left, a 3 from Japan made it a two-point game, but Williams made two free throws to seal the victory. Russell had 25 points and 14 boards, Powers had 24 points and 14 boards, McCall added 19 points and 11 rebounds and Williams finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

In the gold medal game, the USA took a three-point lead into the fourth quarter and then nearly doubled up Canada in the final 10 minutes to secure an 82-63 win and the USA’s sixth-straight gold medal on July 13. The USA led 31-23 at the half, before Canada tied the game at 41-41 with four minutes to go in the third. Sparked by Williams at the end of the third and the start of the fourth, the U.S. lead eventually topped out at 21 points, 79-58, with two minutes to go. Powers finished with 27 points and nine rebounds, and Williams had 15 points and 10 rebounds

Overall, Powers led in scoring (18.0 ppg.), and Russell led in rebounding (9.2 rpg.) As a team, the USA was +17.2 rebounds per game throughout its six wins.

Prior to arriving at the World University Games, the USA squad visited and trained at U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan in South Korea. 

2015 USA WOMEN'S WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES TEAM ROSTER

2015 USA WOMEN'S WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES TEAM CUMULATIVE STATISTICS