Katie Lou Samuelson had 23 points, all in the first three quarters, five assists and two steals to lead the UConn women's basketball team to a 88-66 win over the Netherlands National Team on Tuesday in Rome in the second of four exhibtion games on its tour of Italy.

Kia Nurse, who joined the team after leading Canada to the FIBA AmeriCup title in Argentina, added 18 points and four rebounds. Napheesa Collier had her second consecutive double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals while Azura Stevens contributed 10 points (going 4 for 4 from the floor), six rebounds and two steals.

Gabby Williams had seven points, six assists and five assists as UConn led 82-42 after three quarters en route to sweeping two games against the Dutch National Team. Megan Walker added six points and four rebounds, Crystal Dangerfield had four points and six assists and Molly Bent had four points.

UConn will play the Italian All-Stars on Friday in Vicenza and will wrap up play on Sunday againat Celje in Trieste.

Samuelson is averaging 17 points in the first two games. Collier is contributing 14 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3 assists. Williams (11 PPG), Stevens (10.5 points, 6.5 rebounds) are also averaing more than 10 points per game. Walker has a pair of six-point games and a total of 10 rebounds in the two games while Dangerfield has nine assists.

UConn's Kia Nurse had eight points, three assists and three steals as Canada defeated Paraguay 86-64 to clinch the top spot in Group B at the FIBA AmeriCup Championship in Argentina.

Former UCLA star Nirra Fields had 25 points, 10 rebounds and three steals, Katherine Plouffe had 12 points while Michelle Plouffe finished with nine points and 13 rebounds.

Canada, the defending champion, will play Brazil in Saturday's semifinals. The game will tip at 5:35 p.m. and should be available on ESPN3.

Argentina defeated Brazil to win the Group A title and will meet Puerto Rico in the other semifinal.


Nurse has struggled with her shot in the tournament but she will enter the medal round of the tournament averaging 8.8 points per game.

Manchester's Ashley Perez averaged 8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists to help Puerto Rico to advance to the semifinals.

The top three finishers qualify for the 2018 FIBA World Cup.

UConn junior guard Kia Nurse was named a third team Academic All-American.

Nurse averages 12.8 points per game, leads the team with a free-throw percentage of 85.7, is second on the team with 49 3-pointers and third with 104 assists. The Hamilton, Ontario native carries a 3.44 grade-point average as a liberal arts & sciences major.

She is the eighth Husky to earn CoSIDA Academic All-American honors and first since Breanna Stewart was a second-team selection during the 2014-15 season. Nurse has a chance to join Maya Moore (a three-time first team All-American), Jen Rizzotti, Rebecca Lobo and Leigh Curl as UConn players with more than one Academic All-American honor. Wendy Davis and Ann Strother also earned Academic All-American recognition.

Nurse missed the final four games of the regular season due to a stress reaction in her right ankle. We should learn more about her availability for Saturday's American Athletic Conference quarterfinal game tomorrow when the conference's major awards are announced at a press conference at Mohegan Sun Arena.

There's nothing new to report on Kia Nurse's tender right ankle.

Nurse was clearly hobbled a season-low 18 minutes in Monday's win over South Carolina. Nurse was able to play in the second half, although for only a total of 5:52.

Nurse is considered to be a game-time decision which means her status may not be determined until the shootaround the day of the game as the UConn medical staff will need to determine whether Nurse will benefit enough from sitting her out to have her miss Saturday's game at Tulane.

Nurse has never missed a game in her time at UConn and certainly if it is left up to her, she will play but we'll have to see how UConn proceeds tomorrow especially with UConn not playing again until Wednesday.

SNY is televising the game so I would expect sideline reporter Justine Ward to be at the shootaround, you can check her Twitter account (@JustineBWard) for an update at or after the shootaround.

No basketball program has won more games in the Jimmy V Classic than UConn and even though Sunday's game against Texas at Mohegan Sun Arena will mark the sixth season in a row that the Huskies will be playing in the women's Jimmy V Classic, the meaning of the game and the event is not lost on the UConn players.

"Playing games like the Jimmy V Classic is just phenomenal, to raise awareness and do it by doing something that you love is always something we are fortunate to be a part of," UConn junior guard Kia Nurse said. "There are extended things to it, we got to go the Children's Hospital in Hartford and that was so much fun to hang out with the kids, have dance parties and those kinds of things so to raise awareness, to be able to do it on a big stage and play a great (Texas) team is just a great atmosphere to be a part of."

UConn was a part of the first women's Jimmy V Classic in 2002, winning at North Carolina State (the school where Jim Valvano had a successful run with the men's basketball program). The Huskies lost to North Carolina in the 2004 and 2005 events. Sunday will mark the fifth time the women's Jimmy V Classic will be played in Connecticut. UConn is 6-2 in the Jimmy V Classic, 3-1 in games played in Connecticut.

UConn has also gone 5-0 at the Maggie Dixon Classic, held in honor of the former Army women's basketball coach who died in April of 2006 of what her brother and veteran men's basketball coach Jamie Dixon termed an arrhythmic episode to her heart.

"It is such a fun thing to be a part of," Nurse said. "To be able to help people and raise awareness by simply playing basketball, something that you have done for a long time is truly an honor and truly a blessing. It is great that UConn has always had the opportunity to be on that big stage and be a part of something bigger."

The Jimmy V Classic is sponsored by the V Foundation for Cancer Research which was created by Valvano in 1993 shortly before he lost his battle with cancer. Valvano announced the formation of the foundation during an unforgettable speech at the inaugural ESPY Awards. The foundation has raised more than $150 million for cancer research.

None of the current UConn players were born at the time of the speech but that doesn't mean they haven't heard the speech or seen video of it.
"It is absolutely phenomenal speech, legendary," Nurse said. "It is something that you are always going to see, something that is always going to be relevant. To inspire that many people, to continue to inspire that many people day in and day out every single day of the year is absolutely amazing."

The UConn/Texas game begins at 4 p.m. and will air on ESPN.

KANSAS STATE GAME A SELLOUT
Kansas State announced earlier today that all 12,528 tickets for the Dec. 11 game against UConn have been sold.

The last time UConn played at Maryland there were 15,327 fans in attendance, Nebraska's Pinnacle Bank Arena also has a capacity in excess of 15,000 and perhaps one of the five games remaining at the XL Center will top that mark but certainly it could be one of the largest crowds the Huskies will play in front of during the regular season.

Kansas State has averaged 4,315 fans in its first four home games so obviously bringing in the four-time defending national champions reputation of going a popular draw on the road will only be enhanced after this game.

The Wildcats are off to a 7-0 start and are coming off a win against nationally-ranked Auburn. Barring an upset loss against Nebraska-Omaha on Sunday, I would predict that Kansas State will be ranked at the time of the UConn game.

This has not been the easiest of stretches for Kia Nurse.

In her final three games at the Olympics she 5 for 34 from the field. It didn't get much better once UConn's season started as she missed her first eight shots and only twice in the first five games did she make consecutive shots from the field.

She made three straight shots in a Nov. 20 win against LSU and had two 3-pointers in a span of 25 seconds in the fourth quarter against Dayton when the Huskies were already up 24. Nurse came into the season with a 46.4 career field-goal percentage at UConn including a 38.8 mark from 3-point range but she was at 30.2 and 32.0 respectively before her breakout game.

Things were difficult enough that after missing all five of her field-goal attempts in a season-opening win at Florida State that Nurse initiated a face to face meeting with UConn coach Geno Auriemma because the pressure of her expanded role was much more trying that she anticipated.

Auriemma predicted that with a week between the Dayton and Chattanooga games that Nurse would return to her confident, shot-making self against the Mocs. That didn't happen and even in the shootaround earlier today, Auriemma watched as Nurse missed shot after shot after shot.

So to see Nurse make her first nine shots of the game and already top her previous career scoring high by halftime was not something Auriemma was expecting when UConn hosted No. 15 DePaul.

"She has been trying to hard to put points on the board that she has been fighting herself more than anything else," Auriemma said after the 91-46 victory. "She got very comfortable and a lot of times that is all it takes is to get comfortable.

"I didn't see it coming, I didn't see the score coming, I didn't see what Kia did today coming. At shootaround she missed five, six, seven in a row, I don't know what it was. I had a great coaching moment I told her you have two choices either make them or stop shooting and then she started making all of them."

Nurse got off and running hitting three fast-break layups in a span of 41 seconds early in the first quarter. By the end of the quarter the Huskies were leading 37-6 and Nurse already had 19 points. If she didn't take another shot, it would have been the third-best scoring total as a Husky. She would end with a career-high 33 points and also hit a career best with six 3-pointers.

"There wasn't a whole lot of thinking in terms of shots or scoring, it was more of what can you do on the defensive end, what can you do to affect the game other ways," Nurse said.

Nurse, who earlier today was the only UConn player named to the Wade Trophy watch list, is known to put plenty of pressure on herself. It has made her into the leading scorer on the Canadian national team at the major competitions in the last couple of years but at times she can be her own worst enemy when things aren't going her way. The latter was true earlier this season leading to her seeking out Auriemma for advice.

"I am stepping into a role that I haven't had to be in for a very long time because of the national team I have been kind of young too so it kind of relieved a little bit of that pressure," Nurse said. "It was a great thing for me but it was still a challenge for get better in the leadership roles."

So what was the best advice Auriemma gave her in her meeting?

"You don't have to be good all the time but there are specific times when you need to be really good," Nurse said.

Nurse wasn't the only UConn player with career best performances. Gabby Williams never had a game at UConn with more than five assists but she finished with 10 against DePaul while Katie Lou Samuelson matched her career high with seven assists.

"It is not about who scores the most now and different people are stepping up every night," Nurse said. "I think for Gabby and Lou to have that many assists between the two of them is awesome. It makes it extremely difficult and that is something that gives us an advantage to have such a large amount of offensive weapons."

If there's been on constant in the early portion of this season it is that neither Napheesa Collier nor Gabby Williams miss when they get the ball within the shadow of the basket. So when Collier misfired on an easy shot in the lane in the early stages of the Chattanooga game it took me by surprise.

Collier certainly made up for her early game miss as she made her final 11 shots to finish with a game-high 23 points. If she had made the aforementioned shot in the paint, she would have broken Rebecca Lobo's program record for most consecutive shots in a game without a miss.

Lobo was 11 for 11 in a win over Iona on Dec. 23, 1994. Breanna Stewart threatened the mark when she went 10 for 10 against Creighton two years ago as did Williams (9 for 9 against Temple just nine months ago) and current assistant coach Shea Ralph was also 9 for 9 in a 1999 contest against Old Dominion.

"Let me fix it," Collier said was her initial reaction after her early miss. "It is frustrating especially when it is a shot you usually make so I just tried to adjust. I just feel good so I kept taking it in.
"I think everybody should have that mentality that when they get the ball that they are going to score."
Collier certainly has that belief with three 20-point games in the first five games of the season.
"She is unorthodox in a lot of ways," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "She is able to create space for herself that a lot of other people can't. When she gets the ball anywhere around the basket, she knows where the basket and she has a knack for (scoring). Some players they got it 10 times and five times she will turn the wrong way. She is going to do exactly what she has to do to get the ball up on the rim and score and that is why her shooting percentage is so high when she touches the ball. She has a great feel and it is not anything we've taught her."
UConn finished with 21 assists in the game and 10 of them came on baskets by Collier. All four of Williams' assists came on Collier's baskets while four of Saniya Chong's five assists set up baskets by Collier. Kia Nurse also had two of her four assists resulting in baskets by Collier.

Williams had one assist to Collier that I mentioned to her was Moriah Jefferson like as Williams grabbed an offensive rebound and instead of going up for the basket, she hit a cutting Collier for a basket.

Williams had another strong game with 11 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, four assists, no turnovers and one foul meaning that Williams has committed one foul in the last two games  after being whistled for 10 in the first three games of the season.

It wasn't all about stat stuffing. Chattanooga was 4 for 22 points en route to scoring a total of 39 points in a loss to Maine on Sunday. The Mocs had five 3-pointers and 31 points by halftime leading UConn coach Geno Auriemma to question his team's toughness and focus.

"You have to acquire it," Auriemma said. "A lot of times it comes from inside and you just have it and it needs to come out or somebody needs to whack you in the back of your head like my mother used to do and you find out hat you have that in you. Our guys on our team, forget getting whacked on the back of their head by their mothers, by the way you can't do that anymore. All you know is you show up, when is the game, there is food after, go back to our dorms or our apartments, living large and when is the parade? They don't know any different so they live in a fantasy world and after a while you have to face reality. People forget that Stewie's freshman year that they faced reality a lot, they got their butts kicked and they got tougher, by the time we got to March those guys were tough because they got their butts kicked along the way, they didn't like it. Maybe I am being picky."

There will be more on the toughness issue as well as the string of tough games in my advance for Thursday's DePaul game.

UConn played without freshman guard Crystal Dangerfield because of concussion-like symptoms. Auriemma is hopeful that she can play against DePaul.

"I don't know the ins and outs of how all of that stuff works, I just know that there are four different steps that you've got to go through, she went through two of them today which is really good, one tomorrow and she is good to go and one on Thursday at shootaround and she will be good to go on Thursday night," Auriemma said. "If she gets a thumbs up on Thursday she can play Thursday night, if one of them is a no-go, then she is a no go."

I also noticed that Williams ran off the court, consulted with a trainer and has spent time riding a stationary bike on different occasions. She downplayed any issues she was having.

"We are not quite sure what is going on, just getting a little tightness and cramping but I should be fine," Williams said.

It should be noted she quickly returned the game after experiencing the issue in tonight's game.

When I first heard that Chatrice White was granted a waiver by the NCAA after transferring from Illinois to Florida State and then hearing the possibility that Natalie Romeo could be immediately eligible after going from Nebraska to Washington, it got me thinking (which is never a good thing). The Illinois and Nebraska situations that White and Romeo left were not pretty but neither were the ones at Duke and Kentucky where Azura Stevens and Batouly Camara began their collegiate careers before transferring to Duke.

So if White and possibly Romeo could play for their new teams without sitting out the season, couldn't a case be made for Camara and Stevens to play for UConn this season?

I brought the subject up with UConn coach Geno Auriemma after today's practice and he said neither player will be eligible to play for the Huskies until the 2017-18 season.

"I don't have an answer behind those other programs what happened, why some kids are eligible and some kids are not," Auriemma said. "I just know that our two are not. From talking to them, it doesn't seem like there is anything that would make me think 'OK we should go and pursue this.' I don't know happened that those other players were able to do that. If I felt there were something there, I would pursue it but it would be dishonest for me to think there is when there isn't."

Also, with Kia Nurse getting a game in Canada next year, I was curious if UConn would try to secure a game in Nevada for Gabby Williams. Auriemma said that UConn's west coast trip next season will have to suffice for Williams' homecoming game.

UConn kicks off its season with an exhibition game against Division II Indiana (Pa.) tomorrow night at 7 at Gampel Pavilion. It was a foregone conclusion that Nurse, Williams, Napheesa Collier and Kaie Lou Samuelson would start. Auriemma said he is planning to start senior Saniya Chong as well. Auriemma has been thrilled with what he has seen from Chong which is a good sign but now the challenge is to carry her strong work in practices throughout the entire season. It would be huge for the Huskies if that were the case since it would allow the coaching staff to bring freshmen Crystal Dangerfield and Molly Bent off the bench. There will be more on Chong in the coming days.

Auriemma said everybody should be good to go for the game. He said Nurse stepped on somebody's foot but she was able to practice without restriction today so she should be good to go.

Finally, the preseason Associated Press poll comes out tomorrow at 9 a.m.. UConn has been the preseason No. 1 team in each of the last three seasons and six times in the last eight years but I would be pretty surprised if that trend continues. I vote in the poll and picked the Huskies fourth behind South Carolina, Notre Dame and Baylor.

UConn guard Kia Nurse was Canada's leading scorer at 2016 Olympics

UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma, fresh off leading the United States to a second straight Olympic gold medal, said he would not be coaching the national team again. Time will tell if that's the case because at this point four years ago Auriemma was saying pretty much the same thing.

However, it is clear that Auriemma came out of this Olympics significantly more energized than he was four years ago. One of the advantages of covering the UConn football and women's basketball teams (especially before the practice facility came to be) is I would occasionally catch up with Auriemma inside Gampel Pavilion. One of those meetings came on one of his first trips back to campus after leading the U.S. to the 2012 Olympic gold medal. The circles under his eyes had circles of their own and he looked completely spent emotionally and physically. This time around, however, he seems to have emerged from the experience with more of a jump in his step.

At American Athletic Conference media day earlier this week, I asked him about that.

"It was a much different experience when you know what is coming," Auriemma said. "I was able to change my approach a little bit and it was still difficult to come home August 22 and have our players show up Aug. 26th, that was hard.

"I knew my team and in 2012 I didn't know them. I knew what I was going to get and there was  comfort level which made it easier for me, much easier transition."

Auriemma returned to UConn content that his team accomplished everything he was hoping they would. The story is a little different for junior guard Kia Nurse.

Nurse led her team into the Olympics after being her team's leading scorer in the FIBA Americas tournament which served as an Olympic qualifier and Pan Am Games last summer.

Canada faced France in the quarterfinals with the knowledge that a victory would give them a chance to play for a medal while a loss eliminated them from medal contention.

Canada was up by 13 points when Kim Gaucher scored with 7:30 left in the first half and took a five-point lead into halftime before it all began to unravel.

Nurse has had some many magical performances for her national team but she seemed to be pedaling uphill throughout the entire game. Perhaps it was the case that she missed much of the preparation time leading into the Olympics due to an offseason surgery, it simply wasn't her day or France was able to turn her into a jump shooter by cutting off her aggressive drives to the basket, but Nurse couldn't hit a basket. She finished 3 of 17 from the field in the 68-63 loss en route to a seventh place finish.

Nurse was hoping to return home with a medal. She joked that she would leave it with her parents and point out to her brother Darnell, a defenseman for the NHL's Edmonton Oilers, that despite the remarkable number of trophies he has accumulated, he couldn't top her achievement of earning an Olympic medal. Those conversations just may happen one day but not at the current time.

As time has gone on Nurse has learned the appreciate everything that her national team has been able to accomplish instead of a focusing on her disappointing performance against France.

"Every summer when I come back here and put my dreams (in focus) again," Nurse said. "I look back at my summer and realize how fortunate I was to have that experience, thinking about it if you want to be an experienced player you have to keep on playing. I've been fortunate to have that extra experience, find all of my strengths and weaknesses and work through them.

"My whole thing is we had three vets who were finished with the national team no matter what the outcome was and see how they carried themselves every day, the pride and passion they played with each and every day for the last four years of my career and all the years they were with the team. It was a shame we couldn't finish it off and the fairy tale for them and everything they put into the program. It was obviously disappointing but we are extremely proud of how far Canada basketball has come, when those ranking came out and we were six, we bumped up three spots that is just a testament of how far Canada basketball has come."

As Nurse referenced, the Canadian team will look somewhat different four years from now. Gaucher is 32, Shona Thorburn is 34, Lizanne Murphy is 32 and Tamara Tatham is 31 and the future of the team will rest with the seven members of the squad 25 or younger. Canada combined to go 9-3 in the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championships and FIBA U17 World Championships so perhaps players from those teams will be in the mix. There are also plenty of Canadian stars opening eyes at the collegiate level so it will be interesting to see what the team looks like in two years at the World Championships and in four years time as well.

"It is starting to get more towards my age group so all the players that I played with in the age divisions," Nurse said. "They are doing great things in the NCAA level, in the pro level overseas, for them to come up to the next level and play on the national team I think it is going to great."

A third person with UConn ties who went to the Olympics was also at media day in Philadelphia as former UConn forward Jamelle Elliott and current Cincinnati head coach Jamelle Elliott served as an advanced scout for the U.S. team.

"It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Geno to think enough of me to be a part of this Olympic staff as a coach the best players in the world and try to go for a gold medal," Elliott said. "It was an unbelievable experience and it allowed me to reenergize as a coach being an assistant again, being around the coaching legends on the men's side Mike Krzyewski, Jim Boeheim, Tom Thibodeau just to hear those conversations and hear them talk about basketball it was unbelievable experience."

When Kia Nurse made the decision to undergo sports hernia surgery in May, there was no guarantee she would be a major factor in Canada's quest for an Olympic medal.

In the three exhibition games in the USA Basketball Showcase and in the Olympic opener against China, Nurse was not the same aggressive, confident player for Canada that she was last summer while leading her country to the Pan Am and FIBA Americas titles.

That all changed with Canada in danger of losing a pivotal pool play game to Serbia on Monday.
Nurse was 7 for 11 from the field including 3 of 4 from 3-point range as she finished with a game-high 25 points to go with five assists and two steals.

“It was just a complete team effort,” Nurse said in a release. “After the first half we said, 'Let's get it done on the defensive end' and that's what we did. We came down with some boards, got out in transition. We made them run and executed extremely well in the second half.”
Serbia took a 52-34 lead when Sasa Cado hit a 3-pointer with 5:27 left in the third quarter. Nurse had seven points and an assist as Canada cut the lead to 12 heading into the fourth quarter.

Nurse was 6 for 6 from the line in the first 1:38 of the fourth quarter to pull Canada within six. Nirra Fields tied the game at 59 on a 3-pointer with 4:46 left to play. Nurse drove into the lane and kicked a pass out to Kim Gaucher for a go-ahead 3-pointer to give Canada a 63-61 lead with 2:45 left. Serbia regained the lead on a pair of free throws by Ana Dabovic to make it a 67-65 with 1:11 remaining.

Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe converted a three-point play with 48 seconds left to put Canada ahead 68-67. After a turnover by Serbia gave the ball back to Canada with 31 seconds to play, the decision was made not to foul by Serbia. Canada put the ball in Nurse's hands as she assisted on Miah-Marie Langlois' 3-pointer with 8 seconds remaining.

There's still plenty of basketball yet to be played but a loss to Serbia could very well of left Canada slotted in as the No. 4 team out of Group B which would likely have resulted in a quarterfinal matchup against a powerful Australia team. Now, even if Canada were to lose to the United States and Spain, it should finish in the top three in Group B which would mean a quarterfinal opponent that Canada would have a much better chance to beat than if Australia was the foe in the quarters.

I went back and did some checking and Nurse came one point shy of the Olympic single-game record by a Canadian women's player as Sylvia Sweeney scored 26 points against Japan in 1976.

Here's the list of 20-point games by Canadian women's players
26 Sylvia Sweeney vs. Japan 1976
25 Kia Nurse vs. Serbia 201624 Carol Turney vs. U.S. 1976
24 Bev Smith vs. Yugoslavia 1984
21 Alison Lang vs. Korea 1984
21 Bev Smith vs. Congo 1996
20 Dianne Norman vs. Congo 1996
20 Kim Smith vs. Russia 2012

The first Olympic experience for UConn guard Kia Nurse was a victorious one.

Nurse came off the bench to contribute five points (all from the foul line), two rebounds, four assists and a steal as Canada defeated China 90-68 in its Olympic opener on Saturday.

Nurse, still working her way back after undergoing sports hernia surgery after returning from the Final Four, was 0 for 6 from the field although she did connect on a 3-pointer midway through the second quarter that was ruled to come after the shot clock expired.

The victory for Canada, ranked ninth in the FIBA rankings, against No. 8 China was a key one since Canada still has to play the top-ranked United States and No. 3 Spain in Group B. Next up for Canada is an underrated Serbia team on Monday while the U.S. team, featuring five former UConn players, will play Senegal on Sunday at 11 a.m. in its Olympic opener.

A win over Serbia would put Canada in good shape to finish in the top three in Group B while would likely mean avoiding Australia in the quarterfinals.

Tamara Tatham had 20 points to lead four Canadian players in double figures.

"I thought it was a great way to start the tournament,” Canadian head coach Lisa Thomaidis said in a release. "We had contributions from absolutely everyone. 41 of our 90 points came from our bench and I think that just speaks to our depth of talent and ability to put different people in and see them contribute."

Former UConn star Tina Charles shoots over former Connecticut Sun forward Elizabeth
Williams in Monday night's exhibition game in Los Angeles. (Photo courtesy of USA Basketball)

The U.S. women's Olympic team was in danger of dropping its first game when a trio of former UConn stars took control.

The U.S. Select team, a group of young WNBA players, held a two-point lead with a minute to go. Breanna Stewart hit a layup off an assist from Tina Charles to tie the game. Charles also had a pair of key rebounds while Maya Moore was 4 for 4 from a foul line in the final 39.3 seconds to lead the U.S. to an 88-84 victory.

"We were trying to accomplish a lot," said Moore, who tied for the team lead with 11 points. We were putting different lineups out there on the court, trying different schemes, trying to see what we could do…and the Select Team was very aggressive in terms of those moments when we weren’t completely on the same page. But we were able to respond and finish the game the right way. Hey, we could have easily lost this game. So I’m glad we were able to come through and build some momentum for the next game."

Moore also had three rebounds and three assists while Elena Delle Donne also had 11 points. Lindsay Whalen and Angel McCoughtry had nine points each, Stewart had six of her eight points in the fourth quarter, Charles had eight points and four rebounds. Diana Taurasi had seven points and a team-high five assists while Sue Bird finished with six points.

Natasha Howard had 18 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter, Jewell Loyd had 20 points and Odyssey Sims added 17 to lead the Select team.

"I thought the way the Select Team played was really cool," UConn and U.S. coach Geno Auriemma said. "They played as if they play against these guys all the time, which they do. There wasn’t going to be any sense of intimidation of who they are, which is why we play these games. We need the challenges. We need to look at different combinations and figure out what works for us and what doesn’t. For us, in the two days we’ve been together, we did a lot of really good things and we’re going to get better and better every day. And for the future of USA Basketball, there were some unbelievably positive signs out there of what the next group could potentially look like. It was a good day, I think, all the way around."

The U.S. will now play three international friendlies in three different states beginning tomorrow when the U.S. faces France at 7:30 p.m. at the Bob Carpenter Center on the campus of the University of Delaware. That will be preceded by a 5 p.m. game between Canada (featuring UConn's Kia Nurse) and Australia at 5 p.m. On Friday at Webster Bank Arena, Australia and France will play at 4:30 p.m. followed by the Canada/U.S. game at 7. Canada and France will meet at 1:30 p.m. on July 31 followed by the U.S./Australia game at Madison Square Garden. The team will wrap up the state-side preparations with a practice in Houston on Aug. 2 before leaving for Rio.

"They’re three really big games for us against three teams that are going to be at the Olympics that we’ve played before," Taurasi said. "We know what kind of team they are, what kind of quality they have. It’s going to challenge us to go out there and play hard and play really well to win. When you put this jersey on, as coach said, there are no moral victories. At the same time, these games are there to prepare you, to get you in a position where when we get to Rio, we know what we’re going with and the things that we’re really good at. It’ll be a tough and competitive three games."

UConn's Kia Nurse, in action during the FIBA Americas final, will play
in her first Olympic Games next month as key player for Canada.

UConn guard Kia Nurse emerged as a star of the Canadian national team last summer while leading her country to the FIBA Americas and Pan Am titles so it was hardly a shock that she is part of the 12-member Olympic team which was announced on Friday.

In the FIBA Americas event Nurse averaged a team-best 13 points per game and added 18 rebounds, 11 assists and six steals in the six games. She led the team in scoring (averaging 13.6 points per game) in the run to the gold medal at the Pan Am Games. She also averaged 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

Nurse, who has earned the reputation of playing her best when the stakes are the highest in her first two seasons at UConn, has also played at a high level at the most opportune times with the national team. She had 20 points in the 82-66 victory over Cuba in the FIBA Americas championship game which earned Canada a spot in the Olympics. She had 33 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals in the Pan Am gold medal game to lead Canada to a win over the United States team led by UConn All-Americans Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson.

Nurse was the only player to start all 38 games en route to UConn's run to a record 11th national title during the 2015-16 season. She finished fifth on the team in scoring averaging 9.3 points per game and was one of four players with at least 100 assists. She is expected to take on a large role offensively following the graduation of Jefferson, Stewart and Morgan Tuck.

The 12 players who took part in the FIBA Americas and Pan Am events have all been named to the Olympic team.

Former Notre Dame star Natalie Achonwa is joined by fellow 2012 Olympians Miranda Ayim, Kim Gaucher, Lizanne Murphy, Michelle Plouffe, Shona Thorburn and Tamara Tatham. While Nurse, Nirra Fields, Miah-Marie Langlois, Katherine Plouffe and Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe will be first time Olympians.

Nurse has missed the first two stages of preparation for the Olympics after undergoing sports hernia surgery after helping the Huskies win the national title. She is expected to be able to practice without restriction later today when the team begins its final training camp in Toronto before playing exhibition games against Australia on July 27 in Newark, Delaware, versus the U.S. on July 29 in Bridgeport and against France on July 31 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Canada opens play in the Olympics on Aug. 6 against China.

Time will tell how the UConn coaching staff does in adding post players in the next recruiting class but the 2017-18 Huskies will have some size up front thanks to another transfer joining the program.

Batouly Camara, a former Blair Academy star who spent her freshman season at Kentucky, will be joining former Duke star Azura' Stevens as transfers joining the Huskies since the end of the season.

Camara is a versatile 6-foot-2 forward from New York who averaged a double-double as a senior. In her three seasons at Blair, she led the Buccaneers to a 62-8 record and three consecutive Mid-Atlantic Prep league titles.

Here's a video I shot when Camara took part in the USA Basketball U-18 national team trials back in 2014.

Camara averaged 5.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game as a freshman at Kentucky.

She had a career-high 11 rebounds against UNC-Asheville in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In a loss at South Carolina Camara had a career-high 14 points to go with nine rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot in 25 minutes before fouling out. She also had eight points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in an overtime win against Tennessee.

Camara previously announced that she would be transferring out of Kentucky, one of six players to transfer, another was dismissed and multiple players who have committed to play for the Wildcats have backed out of those pledges.

This will mark the first time UConn has three transfers on its roster as Camara and Stevens joins Natalie Butler, who is set for her second season on the court at UConn after transferring from Georgetown.

On the 2004-05 season UConn's roster featured junior-college transfer Rashidit Sadiq and Brittany Hunter, who played at Duke as a freshman. Hunter had to sit out that season and by the time she played in a game with the Huskies, Sadiq was no longer a part of the program. Rita Williams also went the junior-college route, spending her freshman season at Mitchell Community College and teamed with former University of Arizona product Sarah Northway for two seasons. However, Mitchell was part of UConn's plans coming out of high school so including her in a list of transfers is kind of hard to do even though she officially would be included as a transfer.

Both Camara and Stevens would have to sit out the upcoming season. Stevens will have two years of eligibility remaining while Camara would have three.

UConn has 13 scholarship players for the upcoming season and with only Saniya Chong and Tierney Lawlor leaving at season's end. UConn has two commitments (Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Lexi Gordon) in the next class so there are two remaining scholarships in the Class of 2017.

The Hartford Courant was the first to report that Camara was likely to land at UConn.

NURSE TO MISS EARLY PORTION OF CANADA'S OLYMPIC PREPARATIONS
The Canadian women's national team is currently in Edmonton for the first stage of its Olympic preparations before leaving to play five international friendlies in Spain and France. However, UConn rising junior guard Kia Nurse is not currently with the team and according to a team spokesperson, neither Nurse nor any of the WNBA players in the player pool will be taking part in the European tour.

There's no cause for concern regarding Nurse as she is back at UConn to what was termed "school commitments" but is expected to join the team this summer. The move makes sense as Nurse looked like she was exhausted by the end of what was a hectic summer for her and the Canadian program which won the Pan Am Games and FIBA Americas title. As the team's leading scorer in both events, Nurse will obviously be a member of the squad and by remaining in Connecticut, she won't be overworked this summer. Canada still has two more training camps, a three-game set of exhibitions against China as well as more international friendlies being held in the U.S. and perhaps in Connecticut shortly before the team leaves for the Olympics.

FORMER HUSKIES MAKING NEWS
A couple of items to report regarding former UConn stars.

First, Tamika Williams was hired at Penn State after leaving her job as an assistant coach at Kentucky. Also, Jamelle Elliott will serve as an advanced scout for the U.S. team at the Olympics.

Cincinnati, where Elliott serves as the head women's basketball coach, announced the news earlier today. Ironically, she will join her former teammate and classmate in the court coach/advance scout as Jen Rizzotti will also handle those chores.

What's interesting with Williams' appointment is that she coached Camara in her final season at Kentucky and now one of the players she will get to coach at Penn State is UConn transfer De'Janae Boykin.

Also, former UConn star Carla Berube and former UConn assistant coach Tonya Cardoza were named court coaches at the upcoming U-17 and U-18 national team trials.

The U-17 trials run from Thursday-Monday with the U-18s running from Saturday-Monday.

UConn Class of 2017 commits Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Lexi Gordon are among 150 players competing for 12 spots on the U.S. taking part in the FIBA U-17 World Championships while 30 players including UConn incoming freshman Crystal Dangerfield and Class of 2017 recruiting target Megan Walker are taking part in the U18 camp. Walker is part of the U.S. squad playing in the FIBA Women's 3x3 U18 World Championships from June 1-5 in Kazakhstan so the four players on that squad will be leaving on Sunday and only take part in Saturday's sessions.

Thanks to the Twitter account of her high school team, the photo of UConn freshman Katie Lou Samuelson having a conversation with another sweet-shooting California native has made quite the splash on social media.

The photo was taken after Diana Taurasi wrapped up the second day of the three-day training camp with the U.S. national team and shortly before Samuelson and the Huskies had a Monday afternoon. The timing couldn't have been much better as Samuelson is coming off a Taurasi-like offensive performance in the first quarter of Saturday's win at East Carolina. Samuelson finished with 15 points, which would have marked the second best scoring effort of her freshman season even if she did not play in the final three quarters.

"She is giving me advice on freshman year and to keep my head up," Samuelson said. "Things are starting to go a little bit (easier) so it is really cool to have somebody that I look up to so much and she just feels connected to this program and connected to all of us. I haven't known her before so it was nice to have that connection."

Samuelson and her teammates were able to check out the three days of practices with the 16 players in the national team pool including teammate Breanna Stewart.

"It was amazing," Samuelson said. "It was cool to see the different intensity level they had, every single one them, the confidence, the skills they all possess. It was really a treat for all of us and I think we all learned a lot."

Samuelson was 4 of 5 from the field including 3 of 4 from 3-point range en route to scoring 15 of her 19 points in the first quarter. She now has 47 3-pointers this season and with three in Wednesday's game against SMU, she will join Taurasi, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Bria Hartley, Maya Moore, Jen Rizzotti, Ann Strother and teammate Kia Nurse as the only UConn freshmen with 50 3-pointers as a freshman.

"I'll take that any day but if my shots aren't going in, I am going to have to find other ways to contribute," Samuelson said. "I would like to make all of my shots, I am sure my teammates would to but I am going to take it game by game and not limit myself if my shots aren't going in.

"I definitely feel comfortable, during practices I can see a difference, a little more confidence to do more on the team, feeling more responsibility. I am still probably going to make mistakes but I know that each game that I play, I will feel more comfortable

"They don't want me to just sit in the corner, hide and try to take that on and say I am just a freshman. They want me to help out and take on some of the weight off of their shoulders."

INSIDE INFORMATION?
The entire UConn team, when they didn't have classes to attend, were regular observers at the training camp

As a result, the leading scorer on the Canadian national team that earned an Olympic berth by winning the FIBA Americas Championship for Women got to see the defending Olympic champions in action.

"I texted my teammates and said 'I am sitting in enemy territory,'" UConn sophomore guard Kia Nurse said. "They said 'get as much (information) as you can.' All right, I am not going to get anything but all right.

"You get to see some of the best players in the world, their practicing tendencies and just the confidence that they have in having to pick things up so quickly."

SELECT COMPANY
I did some checking and there are three Division I women's players shooting at least 55 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 80 percent from the foul line.

One of those players is Maryland junior Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, who is shooting 55.6 percent overall, a stunning 56.7 percent on 3-pointers and 80.2 percent from the free-throw line. The other two players in that category are UConn seniors Moriah Jefferson (58.5 percent on field goals, 41.9 percent on 3-pointers and 88.6 on foul shots) and Breanna Stewart (.589/.417/.817).

In UConn's history, there are two players who hit all three shooting percentage landmarks. Shea Ralph did it as a redshirt sophomore and Jefferson accomplished the feat last season.

DANGERFIELD A NAISMITH FINALIST
UConn signee Crystal Dangerfield is one of five finalists for the Naismith Girls' High School Player of the Year.

Dangerfield, a senior guard at Blackman High in Murfreesboro, Tenn., is averaging 24.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.5 steals per game. Dangerfield has eight 30-point games this season in leading Blackman to a 26-3 record and the Tennessee District 7-AAA championship.

Erin Boley, Lauren Cox, Joyner Holmes and Jackie Young are the other finalists. The winner will be announced on Mar. 10.

Kia Nurse admitted that the time between Wednesday night' win at Tulane and the opening tip in today's East Carolina game.

Nurse isn't somebody who is going to obsess over how many points she scored. However, she is also a prideful competitor who knows that a seven-game stretch where she shot 33 percent from the field including 25 percent from the 3-point line simply is not good enough. When she missed all six of her shots against Tulane, she was visibly upset on the bench. Although I didn't cover the game, I could pick up on her discontent courtesy of the television broadcast. Geno Auriemma had a much better view of things and felt it was important to have a heart to heart talk with Nurse.

Auriemma certainly was not shocked to see what happened in today's 92-46 victory when Nurse made 8 of her 11 shots including 4 of 7 from 3-point range.

"I wasn't surprised that Kia made a bunch of plays today, she made a bunch of great plays," Auriemma said. "She plays really hard every day, she is a competitive kid, she has a certain intensity level about her every game. You can't let whether that went in or that didn't go in dictate who you are. Just keep doing the right things everything will be all right in the end."

Nurse received plenty of support from teammates, coaches, family members and friends but in the end, she knew the only person who could shake her out of her doldrums was Nurse herself.

"The last couple of days were not my favorite days ever but I do think it was a matter of just getting my mind right," Nurse said. "Sometimes you can get that from other people and the support from other people but most of the time, it has to come from you."

So how did she accomplish that?

"Kind of just sitting down and reflecting on what I was focusing on that I shouldn't be focusing on and coming out  with a good game," Nurse said.

"That game obviously didn't go the way I wanted it to, I sat down and watched film on it on the way home. I made some really good plays in that game that I didn't give myself credit for and kind of focusing on the way that you play it, that is what is going to determine how you play that game.

"We just talked about the importance of what you do on the floor, it doesn't have to be scoring and those kinds of things that youmake on the floor impacting the game in other ways and that is something we are all focusing on."

Right on cue, the one play where Nurse showed the most emotion came on an assist on a basket by fellow sophomore Gabby Williams early in the third quarter. It all started with a blocked shot by Breanna Stewart who promptly fired a pass to Nurse near midcourt. Nurse collided with an East Carolina, absorbed the contact and tipped the ball ahead. Williams took care the rest with an athletic catch and finish.

"Stewie just threw it and (Nurse thought) this is going to be short so I said 'OK, I will come back to it and it will test my athleticism right now.' I saw Gabby and I just hit it. I don't know if it was the fact that it was Gabby because me and Gabby have such a close relationship but I was just fired up beyond belief. That was fun."

What was also fun is the reaction to Nurse's parents to her brother Darnell's fight in a recent game with the Edmonton Oilers when saying that he dominated Max McCormick in the scrap would be quite the understatement. The camera panned on Richard and Cathy, both former athletes, and their enthusiastic response (although I am not sure enthusiastic is a strong enough word) has created somewhat of a buzz on social media.

"It was hilarious," Kia Nurse said. "That video was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. They get pumped up, his second career high on his birthday, he pummeled the guy - fantastic.

"We are a really competitive family but as you can tell when you see somebody doing something really well, we all get fired up about it. He is an enforcer in a sense so we expect things that like."

So how good of a fighter is she?

"I have never been in a fight, there would be a tough box out when I was younger but not an actual fight but he was in boxing classes," Nurse said.

SELECT COMPANY FOR STEWART
Breanna Stewart needed two steals to reach 200 in her career. I went through the list of players in the NCAA record book (and included Oregon's Jillian Alleyne) with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds to see how many of them had 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 200 assists, 200 steals and 200 blocked shots.

As it turns out she is just the seventh player but it is who else is on that list that is even more impressive including Maya Moore and Women's Basketball Hall of Famers Lisa Leslie, Cheryl Miller and Sue Wicks.

Player             School                (Years)      Pts   Reb  Ast  Stl   Blk
Cindy Brown Long Beach State (83-87)   2696-1184-348-400-318
Lisa Leslie USC (90-94)                           2414-1214-208-228-321
Cheryl Miller, USC (82-86)                      3018-1534-414-462-320
Maya Moore, UConn (07-11)                   3036-1276-544-310-204
Wendy Scholtens Vanderbilt (87-91)       2602-1272-305-211-217
Breanna Stewart, UConn (12-present) 2368-1028-369-201-356
Sue Wicks, Rutgers (84-88)                      2655-1357-289-287-293
(stats are incomplete for Maine's Liz Coffin and Villanova's Shelly Pennefather)

In the midst of UConn's impressive win at Southern Methodist on Jan. 23, there were no lack of friends and family in attendance to see Texas native Moriah Jefferson pass Maya Moore on UConn's list for career assists. Well, when the Huskies play at Tulane on Wednesday Jefferson needs two steals to surpass Moore's career total in that department as well.

Jefferson is not somebody who ponders her individual statistics, but the chance to be ranked ahead of a legendary figure like Moore is something that means the world to Jefferson.

"I didn't even think of it," said Jefferson, who is tied with Bria Hartley for fifth place on UConn's career assists list and is fourth with 309 steals. "I didn't know I was even close to it but the type of player she was is the type of player who came in here every day ready, she worked harder than everybody so just being able to say I've done something like that, it means a lot to me."

Jefferson has 1,319 career points and is only 1,717 behind Moore in that category. If she averages 95 points a game the rest of the way, she could pass Moore in that category as well.

"I have a few games left, I think it can happen," Jefferson said with a laugh.

SIBLING RIVALRY REVISITED
Kia Nurse has gone head to head with her brother Darnell in a variety of sports over the years but to the best of her recollections, the siblings have not gone up against each other for the same award - until now.

Both Kia and Darnell, a rookie defenseman with the NHL's Edmonton Oilers, join women's rugby star Cindy Nelles were named finalists from a group of 22 initial candidates for the annual award.

Kia Nurse has been a finalists in 2014 and 2015 for the award given to the top athlete in the Hamilton, Ontario area.

"That is really interesting for me," Nurse said. "It is something I don't think we've ever done before but it is an honor to be up for that prestigious award. To beat him would be very interesting and if he beats me, OK, I will accept it but it will be a good family dinner conversation."

The winner will be announced on Feb. 25 at the Hamilton Convention Centre.

My curiosity got the better of me.

During last night's game I tweeted that South Florida's Courtney Williams posted her fourth career 20-point game against UConn. I figured that the last time it happened, it was probably done by a Notre Dame player and I was correct.

Skylar Diggins actually had five 20-point scoring games against UConn while Natalie Novosel accomplished the feat four times. Williams is averaging 22.8 points in her last five games against UConn.

The Huskies certainly made Williams work as it took 25 shots for her to get the 26 points she scored last night. Pretty much every UConn player had their chance to guard Williams and watching live, Gabby Williams (no relation) seemed to be the most effective defender against the USF star. I joked to the other beat writers at the game that I would pay money to see a decathlon or heptathlon competition between UConn's Williams, who finished fifth in the high jump at the 2012 Olympic trials, and USF's Williams who also has an incredible vertical leap.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma said that Williams is as difficult to guard as any player his team has played this season. Historically the Huskies have been effective containing the other team's top offensive option. Notre Dame (whether it was Diggins, Novosel, Kayla McBride or Jewell Loyd) did seem to be able to get shots for the players it wanted to get shots and the story is the same for Williams who has taken between 22-26 shots in the last five games against UConn.

"The outside shot was obviously on display and she does a really good job of stopping on a dime so you kind of have to stay in your stance and keep her guessing on what you are doing but at the same time you are trying to keep her in front of you so it is always a bit of a difficult task,"

UConn sophomore guard Kia Nurse said. There was one stretch when the 6-foot-4 Breanna Stewart was chasing Williams around and Stewart's length did make things challenging for Williams - for a while.

"That is when your competitive nature really starts flaring," Stewart said. "She is a great player and she can get her shot off quickly. You want to make her do things that she is not so good at which isn't a lot." Williams has at least one and as many as three games left against UConn so perhaps she will match Diggins' total of five 20-point games or even surpass that total.

NURSE A PEERFECT 50 FOR 50
There have been some pretty gaudy numbers associated with the UConn women's basketball program in recent years. The Huskies have the three of the four longest winning streaks in NCAA history and before the end of the month could have the top three marks. There was another number coming out of last night's win over USF that I didn't pick up on at the time. It was the 50th start for sophomore guard Kia Nurse and UConn's record in those games is 50-0.

It's not the first time this has happened as Tiffany Hayes started 54 games in her freshman and sophomore seasons as the Huskies posted back to back undefeated seasons but it is still rather impressive.

Playing alongside a talent like Breanna Stewart makes it easy to get overshadowed but there is absolutely no way that Morgan Tuck can be overlooked with the way she is playing.

Tuck finished last season not only with 10 straight double-digit scoring games but making more shots than she missed nine times during that stretch with seven games with more assists than turnovers.

It is a safe to say she has picked up right where she has left off. Had she scored one more point against Nebraska, Tuck would be the only Husky to score in double figures in every game this season.

In the last six games Tuck has 102 points while shooting 67 percent from the field (75 percent from inside the 3-point line) with 20 assists and 10 turnovers. When I pointed out the irony to Geno Auriemma that Tuck, who dealt with so many injuries earlier in her career, is the only member of her recruiting class to play in every game this season as both Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson missed a game with a minor injury, he marveled at what she brings to the team.

"It is crazy," Auriemma said. "She is tough. Some of it is you have to be tough, you have to have some good luck, some good fortune which is always good but Tuck, she is the energizer bunny. She is always there at the end."

Tuck had 12 points in the first quarter, making all four of her field goals and going 4 for 4 from the foul line in last night's win over Tulsa. She had 16 points at halftime and with the game a complete mismatch, only played six minutes in the second half. She still finished with 18 points. As is her custom, she was quick to credit the guards for feeding her the ball when asked about her impressive first quarter.
"I knew that we needed to have a good start with the stretch of games that we are about to have. I just try to make sure when I get the ball inside that I finish every layup so I just try to make sure I do that every game," Tuck said.

PUTTING UP A FIGHT
Kia Nurse just shook her head when the topic recently turned to her brother's first NHL fight.

Darnell Nurse is a tough customer so it is not surprising that he would drop the gloves to stick up for an Edmonton Oilers teammate but to initiate his first NHL fight against the rugged Milan Lucic of the Los Angeles Kings who came into the regular season with 61 career NHL fights between the preseason, regular season and postseason was certainly a challenging way to engage in his first scrap with the Oilers.

"He doesn't back down from anybody so it was good to show off his tough side for a minute," Kia Nurse said. "He could of (picked an easier first fighting opponent) but Nurses don't pick anything easy, that is the way we are."

REUNION TIME
When Katie Lou Samuelson made it back to California during the Christmas break, she was struck by how much things have changed. Usually she was the one at home waiting for her sisters to return home from college.

"It was fun, we (Katie Lou and her sister Karlie) were both home for a couple of days and it was cool," Samuelson said. "It was funny because usually I am the one who is home and it was Bonnie (a 2015 Stanford graduate) this time who was stuck at home."
LOFTY PRAISE FOR IRWIN
There are few things that Auriemma values in players more than a passion for the game of basketball. When he was asked about incoming freshman Kyla Irwin recently becoming the all-time leading scorer in State College (Pa.) High School girls' basketball history, he couldn't help but rave about how hard Irwin competes.

"When kids get to be seniors they start playing their best basketball all the time so she has gotten a lot better," Auriemma said. "She's a kid who is going to be good no matter what. Is she going to be great? I don't know but she is going to be good no matter what because her enthusiasm for the game, her effort during the game, her energy level during the game there a very few kids like that. When you are like that, there is a very good chance that you are going to be a very good player."

Watching the Canadian team play this summer en route to winning the Pan Am Games and FIBA Americas Women's Championship gold medals, it was impossible not to see the adjustments made by Canadian head coach Lisa Thomaidis and her staff even from just a year ago.

The decision to put the pedal to the metal is certainly looking rather brilliant.

First it was Canada winning the Pan Am Games capped by an impressive gold-medal game win over the United States team headlined by UConn All-Americans Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson. However, that the just the opening act.

Canada rolled to its first FIBA Americas Women's title in 20 years in dominating fashion, winning its four pool play games by an average of 54.5 points per game. Then Canada beat experienced and talented teams from Brazil and Cuba by almost identical scores of 83-66 and 82-66 to clinch a spot in next year's Olympics.

Before the tournament started I spoke with Thomaidis and UConn guard Kia Nurse and this more exciting brand of basketball the team is playing was one of the subjects I brought up.

"We wanted to play at a faster pace," Thomaidis said. "It's fun to watch the improvements we've had in that area."

In 2011 Canada lost to Cuba in the gold-medal match and ultimately was the fifth and final team at the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament from Women to earn a spot in the 2012 Olympics.

Just five players from the 2011 FIBA Americas squad remain, most of them frontcourt players.

Nurse was the team's leading scorer just as she was in the Pan Am Games and the 19-year-old Hamilton, Ontario native earned tournament MVP honors after her 20-point effort in last night's gold-medal game. Just as important to the team's success has been the emergence of starting point guard Miah-Marie Langlois who led the Canadian team with 157 minutes played and with 37 assist (against just 11 turnovers). Langlois' presence enabled Nurse, who at times ran the Canadian offense a year ago, to move exclusively to the off guard position where she thrived both offensively and defensively.

"You look at how we play at Connecticut too, we get out in transition so for me that is when my speed works to my advantage and that is when I am usually most successful out in transition so that is something benefiting me," said Nurse, who averaged 26.5 points with six assists and one turnovers in the Pan Am and FIBA Americas gold medal games.

UCLA senior Nirra Fields was another of the new backcourt players to shine for Canada while former Notre Dame star Natalie Achonwa was part of an influx of talent up front.

The statistical comparison from 2011 to 2015 is staggering. Canada took an additional 11 shots per game but more impressively went from shooting 39.5 percent from the field to 50 percent. They made and attempted more 3-pointers and free throws. They also averaged 8.5 more assists per game while they committed nearly six fewer turnovers per contest as they raised their per-game scoring average by more than 30 points.

Thomaidis, who deserves a ton of praise for adjusting the system to fit the strengths of her squad, was quick to give credit to her players following the gold-medal game.

"Everything ranks at the top of the list so it is amazing to be a part of," Thomaidis said. "The amount that everybody improved from last year to this year was remarkable and to do it again next year, who knows what is possible. Full credit to them because we left last year and gave them things to work on and everybody came back and improved."