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Sunday, August 10, 2014

UConn commit Collier shines in U18 gold medal game

UConn commit Napheesa Collier played a starring role as the United States completed a dominating run to the FIBA Americas U18 Championship gold medal.

Collier had 18 points, six rebounds, three assists, one steal and one blocked shot in the 104-74 win over Canada in Sunday's championship game.

Collier scored in double figures in four of the five games with a pair of double-doubles as she averaged 14.0 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.0 blocked shots. Collier finished with the fifth highest rebounding average for a player from the U.S. in the tournament's history trailing only multiple time collegiate all-americans Tina Charles, Courtney Paris, Jayne Appel and Candace Parker.

Here are quotes from Collier courtesy of USA Basketball

Thoughts of tonight’s gold medal-winning game:
"I thought we came out super focused because it’s the gold medal game, and we were playing Canada again, so all of us were in the zone."

On what they worked on to beat Canada three times (once in scrimmage, twice in competition):
"I think because we were playing them for the third time, it made us want to get everything perfect and be more focused and play our hardest game."

On winning her very first gold medal for USA Basketball:
"I feel awesome. It’s feels awesome to play and win for the USA."


Former UConn recruiting target A'ja Wilson had 25 points and 11 rebounds. She finished the tournament averaging 19 points per game breaking the U.S. record set by current UConn forward Morgan Tuck. Tuck averaged 17.8 points per game during the 2012 tournament. She became the 14th future UConn player to compete for the U.S. in this event and this is the ninth straight time a future UConn player was a member of the U.S. squad.

Here's the list of UConn players who competed in the tournament
Player                   Year Results Statistics
Rebecca Lobo      1992 Silver 6.8 points, 4.2 rebounds
Stacy Hamsmeyer 1996 Silver Statistics unavailable
Ashley Battle        2000 Gold 5.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.4 steals
Diana Taurasi       2000 Gold 12.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.6 steals
Charde Houston  2004 Gold 10.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists
Tina Charles         2006 Gold 12.0 points, 9.5. rebounds
Maya Moore       2006 Gold 9.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.8 steals
Kelly Faris           2008 Gold 4.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists
Stefanie Dolson    2010 Gold 6.2 points, 4.2 rebounds
Bria Hartley         2010  Gold 10.6 points, 4.0 assists, 2.4 steals
Moriah Jefferson  2012  Gold 5.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists
Breanna Stewart  2012  Gold 14.0 points, 7.8 rebounds
Morgan Tuck       2012  Gold 17.8 points, 5.0 rebounds
Napheesa Collier 2014  Gold 14.0 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists

Next up for Collier is playing on the U.S. 3x3 team along with fellow UConn commits De'Janae Boykin and Katie Lou Samuelson and former UConn recruiting target Arike Ogunbowale at the Youth Olympic Games beginning Saturday in Nanjing, China.

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