TUNIS, Tunisia -- The USA Basketball Women's U19 Team had seven players score in double figures and improved to a perfect 5-0 in the FIBA U19 World Championships with a 124-74 victory over South Korea's Wednesday evening. The South Koreans were held to just six rebounds in the game and were out-rebounded by a 48-6 margin.
The USA squad kept its record perfect and earned the Americans the No. 1 seed from Group A after the preliminary round in the 12-team tourney. The USA will now face Group B's No. 4 seed Hungary (3-2) in Friday's (July 22) quarterfinals. In the win over South Korea (3-2), the USA team was led by Maryland forward Crystal Langhorne's 21 points.
Playing for the USA squad is University of Texas incoming 5-10 freshman guard Erika Arriaran (Norco, Calif./Norco HS) who came off the bench and played 21 minutes against South Korea. She scored four points on two-for-five shooting while adding three assists and two rebounds.
Through the tourney's five games, Arriaran is averaging 5.2 points and 3.0 assists per game, registering 16.8 minutes per contest while shooting 11-for-22 (.500) overall from the floor.
The Americans opened the game with a 22-7 run, as Langhorne had 11 of the 22 points. The USA hit its first five shots and nine of its first 12. South Korea countered with 3-pointers and cut the deficit to 10 points, 30-20, with 41 seconds left in the quarter.
Arriaran then nailed a baseline jumper at the buzzer and the U.S. owned a 32-20 lead after one quarter.
The USA opened the second quarter with a 13-5 run that ballooned the lead to 45-25 with 6:15 to play before half and increased its lead to 63-39 at intermission.
In the first half, the USA shot an impressive 66.7 percent of its shots, while out-rebounding South Korea 23-4 and forcing the Koreans into 12 turnovers.
The second half continued to be all USA, as the red, white and blue never let South Korea back in the game and at the end of three quarters led 95-59.
For the game, the USA shot 68.4 percent (54-of-79 from the floor) while South Korea shot 45.6 percent (26-57). In addition to the 48-6 rebounding edge, the Americans dished out 34 assists, while the South Koreans finished with just two assists. The USA also held an advantage in steals (17-10).
In Wednesday's other preliminary round play, in Group A, Serbia & Montenegro (2-3) rolled past Congo (0-5) 88- 74, while Russia (4-1) posted a 87-43 win over Puerto Rico (1-4). In Group B play, Australia (4-1) earned its Group's No. 1 seed after knocking off previously undefeated China (4-1) 77-66. Hungary (3-2) took care of Tunisia (0-5) 82-61, and Spain (3-2) won a defensive battle against Canada (1-4) 57-37.
Friday's quarterfinal pairing of the USA and Hungary will mark the third time that these two teams have met since July, as they played a pair of exhibition games in Budapest, Hungary, on July 9 and 10. The U.S. rolled to an 82-42 win on July 9, then was surprised 75-67 by Hungary the following night.
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