USA Advance to World Cup Quarterfinals With Win Over South Korea
- Box score: USA vs. South Korea
- 2022 USA Basketball Women's U17 National Team fact sheet
- 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup Schedule
The 2022 USA Basketball Women's U17 National Team secured their fourth win (4-0) at the 2022 FIBA Women's U17 World Cup, earning a 114-29 round of 16 win over South Korea Wednesday at Fönix Hall in Debrecen, Hungary.
In a game which saw the Americans reach the century scoring mark for their second time this week, the team did it by sharing the ball and taking advantage of its size and length.
The U.S. was busy on the boards again, collecting 67 rebounds compared to South Korea's total of 21. The team has recorded 50-plus rebounds in all four games thus far. They also turned 31 offensive rebounds into 37 second chance points while limiting Korea to zero second chance points, one of the facets U.S. head coach Sue Phillips was most impressed by.
“It was a testament to our efforts on the glass,” she said. “I was also impressed with our assist-to-turnover ratio…we’ve been working on that part of our game and have seen some improvement.”
The Americans finished with 35 assists and only 10 turnovers. The team also brought extra pressure on the defensive side of the ball, setting a new USA Basketball women’s U17 record with 29 steals. They had beaten the previous record of 23 (set in 2012) in their opening match against Mali and currently average 22.8 steals per game, putting them on pace to obliterate the current women's U17 record (15.5 spg, 2012).
It was hard to single out certain players that made the difference for the USA, considering everyone had significant contributions on both ends of the floor.
“It was great to see such balance as well from the team with all 12 players in the books and eight players in double figures,” said Phillips of the team’s offensive.
Jadyn Donovan finished with her second-straight double-digit scoring outing with 12 points (4-5 FG, 4-4 FT) to go along with seven rebounds (4 OR), three assists and a steal. She paced the USA through the first half while recording 10 of her 12 points through the first two quarters.
Centers Kennedy Umeh and Breya Cunningham made their imprint on the game by enforcing their will on the glass and getting to their spots in the paint. Umeh recorded her first double-double and first 10-point performance of the World Cup by totaling 10 points and 15 rebounds to go along with four steals. Cunningham also finished in double-figures with 14 points, marking her third-straight game doing so.
The U.S. advance to the quarterfinals and, following a rest day tomorrow, will face Japan on Friday, July 15 at 2 p.m. ET on www.youtube.com/FIBA.