A week after the U.S. women's basketball senior team won its seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, the American women won the Under-19 FIBA World Cup in Hungary.
The U.S. team defeated Australia 70-52 in the final Sunday, with Iowa sophomore guard Caitlin Clark being named tournament MVP. She had nine points, eight rebounds and eight assists against Australia.
The No. 1 recruits in ESPN's HoopGurlz rankings for 2021 (Azzi Fudd, who will be a freshman at UConn) and 2022 (Lauren Betts, a high school senior who is committed to Stanford) were also part of the U.S. team. Betts, a 6-foot-7 post player, had nine points and a team-high 14 rebounds against Australia, while guard Fudd had five points and six rebounds.
Also on the team were five other top-16 recruits who are headed to college this fall: No. 4-ranked Sania Feagin (South Carolina), No. 7 Jersey Wolfenbarger (Arkansas), No. 12 Payton Verhulst (Louisville), No. 15 Amari DeBerry (UConn) and No. 16 Sonia Citron (Notre Dame). Citron, who had 10 points and five rebounds Sunday, and Clark were named to the tournament's All-Star Five.
The other players on Team USA are rising college sophomores: Diamond Johnson (NC State), Te-Hina Paopao (Oregon), Jewel Spear (Wake Forest) and Lauren Ware (Arizona).
Johnson, who played her freshman season at Rutgers before transferring to the Wolfpack, led Team USA in scoring Sunday with 15 points, and Paopao also scored in double figures with 10 points.