University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas, USA U19 Women Advance To Quarters
August 2, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Aug. 2, 2007
Courtesy of USA Basketball
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia --- The USA Women's U19 World Championship Team will advance to quarterfinal play with a perfect 6-0 record after securing an 84-60 win Wednesday evening in Bratislava, Slovakia. North Carolina signee Italee Lucas had seven points, two rebounds, two steals and two assists in the win.
"I thought tonight we were a lot better than we have been at understanding tempo," said USA U19 and DePaul head coach Doug Bruno. "We ran we needed to run, and we executed our half court offense when we needed to."
Slovakia was able to match each U.S. score for the first six minutes of the game, thanks to 11 first-quarter points from Regina Palusna, and the score was an even 13-13 just six minutes into the game. But a jumper from Lucas at 4:16 sparked a 12-4 run that concluded when Lucas nailed a buzzer-beater from midcourt to close the first period with the USA up 25-17.
"I think tonight's game was much easier to win because everyone we were sharing the ball," Lucas said. "And our defense was more intense because we felt like we had something to prove."
Jantel Lavender (Cleveland Central Catholic H.S.) scored the first two points of the second quarter, but Slovakia responded with seven straight points, including five from Lucia Krc-Turbova, to cut the lead to 27-24 at 8:45. That was as close as the host team would ever get, and from there it was all USA. Another basket from Lavender at 8:05 launched a 22-10 U.S. run that included six points from Maya Moore (Collins Hill H.S.) and two 3-pointers from Angie Bjorklund (University H.S.), and the USA headed into the locker room at halftime with a 15-point, 49-34 lead.
"Tonight was a huge test for us, playing against the home team in front of the home crowd," Lavender said. "I think we handled it well. At halftime when we had a 15-point lead, I knew we had the game under control and all we had to do was sustain it. We just played defense, and we kept our lead."
The USA went on to outscore Slovakia 22-20 in the third period and then 13-6 in the fourth to bring the score to the final 86-60.
In addition to Moore's 24 points and six rebounds and Lavender's 14 points and 11 rebounds:
Bjorklund scored 11 points; Krystal Thomas (The First Academy) added eight points and seven rebounds; Melissa Lechlitner (Notre Dame) added eight points and five assists to four steals and four rebounds; and Lucas contributed seven points.
"Being forced to sit yesterday because of foul trouble was definitely motivation for me to come out tonight and stay out of foul trouble, so I could stay in the game," Moore said. "I'm proud of the team for tonight's win. We are learning to control the tempo better."
Slovakia's Palusna finished with 21 points and Krc-Turbova scored 12.
FIBA is expected to confirm game times on Thursday, but the No. 1 seed USA is set to face No. 4 Czech Republic on Friday in the tournament quarterfinals.
"It's nice to be 6-0, but 6-0 is really meaningless in the broader picture of what we came here to do, which is win gold," Bruno said. "All of our focus is on the Czech Republic right now."
The 2007 U19 World Championship semifinals will be played Aug. 4 and the gold medal will be contested Aug. 5.
