Courtney Paris Solid In USA Opener

TUNIS, TUNISIA -- Behind its dominating post play, the USA's (1-0) pursuit of the FIBA Women's U19 World Championship gold medal got off to a successful start Friday as the U.S. women defeated Russia (0-1) 98-65 in the first of its five preliminary round games in Tunis, Tunisia. The 2005 FIBA U19 World Championship is being held July 15-24 in Tunisia and the U.S. will continue preliminary round action Saturday facing Congo.

A combination of four USA post players dominated the paint and combined to score 55 of the team's 98 points. Nikki Anosike (Tennessee/Staten Island, N.Y.) and Crystal Langhorne (Maryland/Willingboro, N.J.) each tallied 16 points, while Erlana Larkins (North Carolina/Riviera Beach, Fla) scored 14 points and Courtney Paris (Piedmont H.S./Piedmont, Calif.) added nine points.

Paris, who will begin her Oklahoma career in the fall, is the youngest player on the U19 roster and just one of five athletes on the 15-player roster without collegiate experience. Against the Russians she was 4-for-5 from the field with five rebounds (three offensive) and four blocks in 19 minutes of action.

Box Score | World Championship Schedule | USA Central

"I was really proud of our defensive effort as a team. Everybody came in an contributed and we really set the tone with our defense," said USA head coach Gail Goestenkors. "After our final exhibition game against Hungary (a 75-67 loss) we were very disappointed we did not dictate the tempo. We were (in the Hungary exhibition) very passive on the defensive end so we've been working on becoming much more physical, much more aggressive on the defensive end and I think it really showed today that our hard work paid off.

"Our guards did a tremendous job of getting the ball inside to our posts and we have such a great group of posts. Most teams have one or two good posts, but we feel that we have five great post players who work together and who are difficult to stop," Goestenkors added.

Getting four early points from Larkins, the U.S. jumped ahead 8-2. Leading 8-5, the U.S. took over the game with a 16-2 spurt that left the Americans in front 24-7. Anosike midway through the run poured in seven consecutive points as the U.S. continued to get the ball down low.

Leading 28-8, Russia mounted its lone offensive run of the game. Outscoring the U.S. 9-0, Russia whittled the gap to 11, 28-17, with 1:17 left in the first quarter. However, Larkins scored the quarter's final three points and the Americans after one quarter were sitting pretty with a 31-17 advantage.

Whatever hope Russia still had to pull this one out were quickly crushed as the USA pushed its lead to 49-27 with 5:02 remaining before halftime following a Marissa Coleman (St. John's College H.S./Cheltenham. Md.) basket. Russia never again got closer than 15 points as the U.S. enjoyed leads of 58-41 at half, and 84-55 at the end of three periods.

In the game's decisive first 10 minutes, the U.S. defense limited Russia to 20.0 percent shooting on 3-of-15 shooting overall from the floor. The U.S., which started the game by making seven of its first 10 shots, finished the quarter shooting 13-of-23 for a 59.1 shooting percentage.

"The first group coach had in was doing so well and I've always been told anytime the second group comes in the intensity should rise, so I tried to bring that into the game," remarked Anosike. "Since day one the coaches have been harping on the fact that our post game is so strong and that it is going to be the heart and soul of this team."

"Were getting better and better, and getting better at team defense and that's just a sign of how much more mature we're getting. On the offensive and defensive ends everything is beginning to fall into place," added Anosike.

With Langhorne leading the charge with seven rebounds, and Larkins and Paris each grabbing five boards, the USA outrebounded Russia 32 to 23. The nagging U.S. defense forced Russia into 27 turnovers.

In other preliminary round play Friday, in Group A play, Puerto Rico (1-0) nipped Congo (0-1) 53-51, while South Korea (1-0) upended Serbia & Montenegro (0-1) 79-76. In Group B, China (1-0) took out Hungary (0-1) 66-55, and Australia (1-0) edged Spain (0-1) 53-50. Preliminary play concludes Friday evening with host Tunisia meeting Canada.
To be eligible for the 2005 USA U19 World Championship Team, an athlete must have been born on or after Jan. 1, 1986 (19-years-old or younger).

Formerly known as the FIBA Women's Junior World Championship and held every four years since 1985, the U.S. boasts of a 24-10 overall record and has captured one gold and one bronze medal. In 2001, at the most recent tournament, a USA Basketball team piloted by University of Connecticut's Geno Auriemma and featuring players like Alana Beard and Diana Taurasi collected the bronze medal with a 6-1 record.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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