LEON, Mexico (Aug. 25, 2021) – The USA Women’s U16 National Team (3-0) rode a 23-0 game-opening run to a dominating 115-36 victory over Argentina (1-2) at the 2021 FIBA Americas U16 Championship on Wednesday night in Leon, Mexico. The preliminary round win, which saw six players finish in double-digit scoring, advances the U.S. to the medal round as the No. 1 team from Group B. The team will face Costa Rica (0-3), which finished fourth in Group A, in the Aug. 27 quarterfinals (time TBD).
“It feels great,” said Delaney Thomas (St. John's College H.S./Charles Town, W.Va.), who put up the game’s lone double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, on the team being 3-0 heading into the medal round. “This team is awesome to play with and it’s a bunch of fun, we’re just out there having fun together.”
For the third time in as many games, JuJu Watkins (Sierra Canyon High School/Los Angeles, Calif.) paced the USA’s scoring effort after notching 17 points. She also added five rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocked shots.
Maggie Mendelson (Fremont H.S./North Ogden, Utah), who hit 10-of-12 from the charity stripe, finished with 16 points and seven boards; Jada Williams (La Jolla Country Day/San Diego, Calif.) scored her 15 points in the first half and dished out a game-high nine assists; Jadyn Donovan (Sidwell Friends School, D.C./Upper Marlboro, Md.) tallied 14 points and six caroms; and Olivia Olson (Benilde-St. Margaret's/New Hope, Minn.) chipped in 10 points.
“Here at USA Basketball, you’re playing for the name across your chest and not only did Jada have double figures (in points), but she was one assist shy of a double-double,” said USA head coach Sue Phillips (Archbishop Mitty H.S., Calif.). “She did a really nice job of managing our team and was an aggressive player looking to score, keeping the defense on their toes. Delaney had a double-double with points and rebounds, so that was great to see, and JuJu played a fantastic game. She shot 67 percent from the floor and really filled up the stats sheet.”
Olson netted back-to-back 3s in the first 14 seconds of action and the USA was off and running. After three minutes had expired, all five starters were on the board and the lead was 14-0. In all, seven players put up points in the 23-0 run. By that point, Argentina had missed all six of its shot attempts, while the USA was 8-of-14 (.571).
“I was very happy with our defensive intensity from the jump,” said Phillips. “We’re clearly demonstrating a pattern of starting games with an intense defensive mindset and it’s really sparking our offense, which is putting numbers on the scoreboard at a high clip.”
After Argentina connected on its first field goal at 3:59, the USA scored nine unanswered points, and a second bucket from Argentina brought the first quarter to an end with the North Americans in complete control 32-4.
In the first quarter alone, the USA’s defensive effort held Argentina to 16.7% (2-12 FGs) shooting from the field, and forced 15 turnovers, which the U.S. offense converted into 15 points. In contrast, the USA shot 44.0% (11-25 FGs), had 10 steals, eight assists and six fast-break points.
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