COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Obviously from the start, USA White was the most stacked team in the USA Basketball Youth Development Festival, and it lived up to that billing with a gold-medal finish.
Led by 19 points and 10 rebounds from Kelsey Bone, the top-ranked player in 2009, USA White turned up the heat on USA Blue in the second half and cruised to a 103-88 victory in the championship game on Sunday. USA White finished with a perfect, 5-0 record; the previous YDF gold medalists also finished with unbeaten records.
Meanwhile, Nneka Ogwumike had 18 points, eight rebounds and six steals as 3-2 USA Red beat Brazil 82-69 to claim the bronze medal. Ogwumike, from Cy-Fair, Texas, was the event's leading scorer (12.8 points per game) and second-leading rebounder (10.0).
USA White was by far the most talented team in the field, though the balance of talent doesn't always win events. This squad, however, put aside egos and played well together. Its players spoke all week about being the "closest" team in the four-team tournament.
The squad had a cast of heroes, varying from game to game, but Tiffany Hayes of Winter Haven, Fla., was its most consistent player. The Connecticut commit averaged a team-leading 11.2 points per game, led the YDF with 47.8-percent shooting from three-point range, sank 11 three-pointers (best among the Americans) and averaged 3.0 steals. Caroline Doty of Ft. Washington, Pa., and Amber Gray of Cincinnati, Ohio, were other standouts for the White squad, which also got stellar point-guard play from Samantha Prahalis of Commack, N.Y., who led the TDF in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.53); Skylar Diggins of South Bend, Ind., who was fourth in assists (3.2) and Ashley Corral of Vancouver, Wash., who shot 47.6 percent from the perimeter before suffering an event-ending, left-ankle sprain in the third game.
USA Blue, which finished 2-3, was led by Alicia Manning of Woodbrige, Ga., who was second in the YDF in scoring (12.6) and Glory Johnson of Knoxville, Tenn., who was third in scoring (11.6) and tied for first in steals (3.0).
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