USA & Paris Roll into Quarters

July 5, 2007

MOSCOW, Russia -- Courtney Paris and the USA U21 Team are moving onto the quarterfinal round of the 2007 FIBA U21 World Championships after a pair of decisive wins over Spain and Japan.

Paris helped guide the red, white and blue to a 98-57 win over Japan on the Fourth of July. The reigning AP National Player of the Year contributed seven points on 3-5 shooting. She also cleared a team-high nine rebounds in 17 minutes of action.

One day earlier (July 3), the USA clinched the top spot in Group B with a 82-62 win over Spain. The USA will open the quarterfinal round against the fourth seeded team from Group A.

Against the Spaniards, Paris contributed eight points and once again led the team with 10 rebounds. Paris, who started all five preliminary games, only needed 13 minutes to rack up the near double-double.

Japan Recap | Photos | Spain Recap | Photos | Cummulative Stats

Following a day off, the red, white and blue will go up against Belgium (2-3), the fourth placed finisher from Group A on July 6 at 11:15 a.m. CDT. The semifinals will be held on July 7 and the finals are scheduled for July 8.

Paris leads the team of collegiate all-stars in rebounding (8.4), while ranking second in shooting percentage (.556) and third in points per game (11.4). Paris is playing 17 minutes per contest, which is sixth on the team. She has also pulled down a team-best 25 offensive boards, as opposed to 17 defensive.

Despite the perfect record, Paris feels there is room for her team to improve, "Coach McCallie has been talking to us about getting off to a great start and playing good defense. I think we did that. Now we have to build on that and make it a full game and bring that to the second half. We're proud of our first half effort, but like I just said, we have to step it up and take it the full 40 minutes."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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