USA Basketball

Go, Sedona & USA U18!

 

USA took China apart, 107-50, to finish group B play at 3-0. Celeste was third in scoring with 14 pts. No additional stats are up yet.

Hungary took group C with a 3-0 record while Australia also went 3-0 in group D. France is 2-0 in group A and looks to be well on the way to go 3-0 as they are up 43-26 with less than 2 and 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter.

USA will next face off with Group A's 4th place team, who at this point looks to be Colombia, currently 0-2 and trailing Japan 54-34 at the end of the third quarter. The game is scheduled for tomorrow with TBA. I am guessing that will be announced once the results of the two group A games are completed.

This USA team looks better every game. No weak players in the rotation as all have made solid contributions. We got an outstanding player in Celeste. Hopefully, Horns will be able to get a few more from this team for 2019 and 2020.

 

A few glimpse of Sedona included.

 

Two of Celeste's 14 pts with an assist from Haley Van Lith.

 

USA vs China game story:
https://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2018/07/wu17-game-3-chn.aspx
Nice line for Celeste in China game:
14 pts (5-11 FGs; 2-3 from BTA; 2-3 FTs); 5 rebs; 2 assists; one block; zero steals; zero TOs.

Cooke had more FGs made and attempted in this game than in the previous two: 7-13 in this game compared to 1-9 in the two previous.

 

Through three games, Celeste is the third leading scorer on the team at 9.7 ppg; her 18.3 mpg are fifth best on the team (she is tied with Haley Jones); her shooting %s have improved: FG% up to 40.0%; 3pt% up to 42.0%; FT% still poor at 57.0%); she is second on the team in FT attempts with 7 and tied for second in FTs made with four; Celeste is fourth in rpg at 6.0 (only 0.7 rpg behind the leader); tied for third in assists with 8; one of five players with one block; tied for third with four steals and fourth with four TOs.

 

Just finished watching. Definitely the best game Zia Cooke has had. Seemed to be playing with slightly more patience and her little stop-and-pop from the free throw line was money in the bank. Jordan Horston also seemed much more under control this game but still quick. As the legend John Wooden preached - “Be quick but don’t hurry.”

Celeste got at least 3 rebounds from doing something not enough players do anymore - follow their own shot. She turned 2 of those boards into putbacks. Celeste highlight for me was in the 3rd quarter - came bounding out of nowhere and launched well above the other 3-4 players under the basket for a 2-handed rebound.

 

USA will face off with Colombia at 12 noon CST today, Wednesday.
Link to schedule: https://www.usab.com/womens/u17/schedule.aspx
Link to video feed: http://www.fiba.basketball/world/u17women/2018/videos

 

Round of 16: USA 98 Colombia 42
Box Score: http://www.fiba.basketball/world/u17women/2018/game/2507/Colombia-USA#tab=boxscore
For a game that the USA dominated, it just felt like the USA was never fully in sync, never freely flowing. Too many missed layups, shots, passes. And, yet, they won by 56 pts.

Colombia had a stretch in the third quarter where they were very successful in applying a press and subsequent trap to force TOs. Guess they got tired because they didn't use that in the fourth quarter.

Next up for the USA will be Spain, a 72-50 winner over Canada. The game is at 18:45 GMT which should be 1:45 CST.

 

Oops, looks like my conversion from GMT to CST for tomorrow's U17 game was a bit off!

 

Sweet seeing Celeste in this photo!

 

Quarterfinal previews: http://www.fiba.basketball/world/u17women/2018/news/who-will-win-the-u17-women-s-world-cup-vote-now
USA vs Spain

 

USA nailed down one semi final slot with a win over Spain, 66-31. Spain did what they do: slow the game down and take a shot with less than 8 seconds left on the clock. Hence, the low score. Gotta admire that they stuck to their game plan and did not try to run with the USA. Their shooting was a bit worse than against Canada, though. USA was able to run although they did end up in a half court offense quite a bit. TOs and steals were almost identical.

USA now moves into the semis against the winner of Japan vs Hungary. The other semi features France vs Australia. Game time for the USA game is 20: 30 GMT. I think that translates to 12:30 PM CST. France vs Australia is at 10:30 AM (18:00 GMT).

The problem to viewing the last two games may be that either or both of the semis and finals will be on ESPN+ instead of FIBA YouTube. Hopefully, we can watch replays of the games afterwards on FIBA YouTube.

 

USA-Spain box score:
http://www.fiba.basketball/world/u17women/2018/game/2707/USA-Spain#tab=boxscore
Cooke was perfect from the field (6-6 FGs. 1-1 3pters; 1-1 FTs) for 14 pts.
Bueckers was near perfect, going 6-7 from the field to get 12 pts.
Horston had a rough game shooting, making 4-13 from the field and 0-2 from BTA.
Celeste was 3-6 from the field, including 1-3 from BTA for 7 pts (4th on the team).

USA game story: https://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2018/07/wu17-game-5-esp.aspx
Looks like someone forgot to use their calculator!

 

Hungary will face the USA in the semis as they take down Japan 74-62.
Boxscore: http://www.fiba.basketball/world/u17women/2018/game/2707/Japan-Hungary#tab=boxscore

 

Stats through five games: http://www.fiba.basketball/world/u17women/2018/team/United-States-of-America
Celeste is 2nd on the team in 3pt % at 41.7%.
She is tied for 5th in scoring at 8.2 ppg.

 

Another update from Sedona!

 

Shoot, still hoping that the game will also be on youtube but doubtfully since ESPN+ is an online service.

 

Youtube and ESPN+ are both streaming services. If you get one you can get the other. ESPN+ is $4.95 per month, but you can get the first 7 days for free if you want to watch and then cancel.

 

Thanks for the info and suggestion. Good ol’ ESPN - do the bare minimum to promote WBB in the US but try to bilk us for some dough while every other game gets aired on YouTube for free. Ugh.

 

My thoughts, exactly, DFW_Horn.
Thanks for the info, Viper, but I don't like the hassle I have run into at times trying to cancel "trial subscriptions" at times. Guess I will wait to see if FIBA has replays of the games or just check the game writeups and boxscore later.

 

looks like I will be able to follow the game via live stats. France is on top of Australia 63-58 with 23 seconds to go.

 

68-58 final, France moves on the finals. France hit 7-8 FTs in the last minute to hang on to the lead.
Box score: http://www.fiba.basketball/world/u17women/2018/game/2807/France-Australia#tab=boxscore

 

USA up 30-10 at the end of one quarter. It was a tight game with three minutes to go with USA up 14-7. USA went on a 16-3 scoring binge the last three minutes to open up the big lead.

 

much closer quarter as USA scored 15 pts and Hungary 12. But due to big scoring outburst in the last three minutes of the first quarter, USA takes a 45-22 lead at the half.

 

At least 12 of those 16 points were scored when USA went to full court press - Hungary didn’t get the ball across halfcourt 5 consecutive possessions resulting in 5 layups for the US. I actually felt bad for Hungary - USA backed off of that in the 2nd quarter and only outscored Hungary 15-12.

 

Horston is the only player on USA with double digit pts with 14 on 7-10 shooting. Belibi, Boston and Jones each with six pts. Fudd, Horston and Bueckers lead the way rebounding with 4 each. Jones has four assists to top the team at the half.

Celeste got in for five minutes in the half, missed her only shot (a 3pter) and had one assist.

 

Just cuz it shows Celeste taking a shot!