Sims and USA Teammates Claim Gold
8/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Aug. 21, 2011
In the World University Games, guard Odyssey Sims averaged 6.2 points in 18.2 minutes of action a game. She also averaged 2.0 rebounds. 2.2 assists and 1.6 steals a contest.
SHENZHEN, China (Aug. 21, 2011) -- Nnemkadi Ogwumike (Stanford/Cypress, Texas) finished the night with 24 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals to lead the 2011 USA Basketball Women's World University Games Team (6-0) to the gold medal with a 101-66 victory over Taiwan (5-1) on Sunday night in Shenzhen, China. Also coming up big on the night was Elena Delle Donne (Delaware/Wilmington, Del.), who barely missed a triple-double after contributing 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
In all, four players scored in double digits, including Skylar Diggins (Notre Dame/South Bend, Ind.), who netted 19 points and dished out six of the USA's WUG record-tying 27 assists; and Chiney Ogwumike (Stanford/Cypress, Texas) with 10 points and six rebounds. The original record for U.S. assists at this event was set against South Africa by the 2005 USA squad.
In the bronze medal game, Australia (5-1) broke a tie late in the game to pull away and defeat Sweden (3-3) 66-56 earlier in the evening.
USA Basketball has claimed gold at the last four WUGs in which it has entered a team (2001, 2005, 2009 and 2011). Further, the U.S., which has competed in a total of 16 World University Games, now owns a record eight golds, six silvers and one bronze medal and boasts a 95-15 all-time win-loss record in WUG play. Taiwan's silver marks its first women's basketball medal ever at the World University Games, while Australia previously claimed gold once and bronze twice.
"We wanted to go to Nneka (Ogwumike) early and often, and we did," said Bill Fennelly, USA World University Games Team and Iowa State University head coach. "I think (tonight's game) was even better than the game she played two years ago (in the U19 World Championship gold medal game). I think that says a lot about her, not just her talent, but her commitment and focus. You want your best players to step up at the biggest times, and a gold medal game is a good time to step up and do the things you can do.
"To our kids' credit, we added an offense on our off day because we knew we had a size advantage," he added. "We just wanted to pound it at them and we did. The kids were unselfish. We kept throwing it on the block and got a lot of easy baskets." The USA's game plan of going inside early and often, making the most of its height advantage (Taiwan's average height is 5'9" and the USA's is 6"1"), paid off in spades as it outscored Taiwan 62-22 in the paint on the night and got all but its final field goal of the first quarter from inside.
After a pair of lead changes and two knotted scores early, with 5:53 to play in the first quarter the score was tied at 14-all. Devereaux Peters (Notre Dame/Chicago, Ill.) took a feed inside from Delle Donne that put the USA on top for good, 16-14, at 4:49. The Peters bucket was the start of a mini 7-3 run by the U.S. that ended with a Nneka Ogwumike three-point play, and with 1:52 to play in the period the American women were on top 23-17. Holding a five-point, 26-21, lead near the end of the quarter, the USA closed out the stanza up 29-21after a Jacki Gemelos (USC/Stockton, Calif.) sank a 3-pointer.
"Our game plan was definitely to pound the ball inside," said Nneka Ogwumike, who had 13 points in the first quarter. "We played Australia, which was whole different extreme. Their shortest post player was 6-3. And then today, we played Taiwan and their tallest person was 6-1. We just kind of took advantage of what they had and what we had, and we executed as best we could."
