Team USA is the 2019 FIBA Women’s Americup champion. The Americans cruised past an overmatched Canadian team, 67-46, to win the gold medal in Puerto Rico on Sunday night. This is the first time Team USA has won the event since 2007, which was also the last time it participated.
It wasn’t the prettiest basketball game of all time, and both teams struggled to put the ball in the basket early; after the first quarter, the Americans led 14-9. It didn’t get much better from there, as neither team shot better than 36 percent from the floor, but as was the case all tournament long, Team USA proved too talented. Veteran bigs Sylvia Fowles, Tina Charles and Stefanie Dolson dominated inside, combining for 34 points on 15-of-22 shooting from the field, while young point guard Jordin Canada added 11 as the only other player in double figures.
With the victory on Sunday night, Team USA finished the tournament a perfect 6-0, outscoring their opponents by a whopping 232 points, or 38.6 on average. Their biggest win was a 79-point destruction of Paraguay in the opening game, and their lowest margin of victory was 16 points against Brazil in the final group stage game. Fowles, Diamond DeShields and Jordin Canada were all named to the tournament’s All-Star Five along with Kayla Alexander of Canada and Damiris Dantas of Brazil.
The AmeriCup had previously been known as the FIBA Americas Women’s Championship, but was rebranded as part of FIBA’s new women’s national team competition schedule. Ten teams competed, with the top eight moving on to the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in November. Because this was the inaugural version of the new AmeriCup format, Team USA participated despite the fact that it has already qualified for the 2020 Olympics as a result of winning the 2018 FIBA World Cup last summer.
Team USA AmeriCup results
Sunday, Sept. 22
Team USA 110, Paraguay 31 (Box Score)
Tuesday, Sept. 24
Team USA 88, Colombia 46 (Box Score)
Wednesday, Sept. 25
Team USA 100, Argentina 50 (Box Score)
Thursday, Sept. 26
Team USA 89, Brazil 73 (Box Score)
Saturday, Sept. 28 (semifinals)
Team USA 78, Puerto Rico 54 (Box Score)
Sunday, Sept. 29 (championship)
Team USA 67, Canada 46 (Box Score)
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