University of Connecticut Athletics
Auriemma Leads Team USA to Gold at FIBA World Championship
10/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 3, 2010
Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic - The USA Basketball Women's World Championship Team (9-0) stormed out of the locker room at halftime on a 15-2 run to pull away from host Czech Republic (6-3) and finished the night with the eventual 89-69 gold medal victory at the 2010 FIBA World Championship. The win saw four players score in double digits, led by a game-high 18 points from Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream).
With the gold medal victory, played in front of a boisterous and deafening crowd of Czech supporters who never gave up hope on their squad, the USA became the first team to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Summer Games that will be held July 27-Aug. 12 in London, England.
In addition to McCoughtry, the USA's offense was paced by Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury) with 16 points, Tina Charles (Connecticut Sun) tossed in 13 points and grabbed a game-best 10 boards, including six on the offensive end; and Sue Bird (Seattle Storm) chipped in 11 points and dished out three assists.
Taurasi was named to the five-member All-World Championship Team along with Hana Horakova and Eva Viteckova of the Czech Republic, Yelena Leuchanka of Belarus, and Amaya Valdemoro of Spain.
"I thought the Czech team played with so much heart and so much passion and they're so smart," said USA and University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma . "Every time you make a mistake, they make a basket. I can't tell you with how impressed I am with coach (Lubor Blazek) and his style of play. That was the best team we played in the entire tournament, without question. We're fortunate to be world champions. I know my players worked really, really hard. To do it here, in the Czech Republic, against the Czech national team, in front of an unbelievable crowd. The crowd last night was incredible and tonight was just as good. I think it makes this win even more rewarding because of who we had to beat and where we had to beat them."
The American women now own a 97-21 (.822) all-time record since the first FIBA World Championship was held in 1953, earned their ninth straight podium finish at the Worlds dating to the 1979 tournament, and the 2010 gold medal represented a record eighth gold for the U.S. in World Championship competition.
The silver marked the first medal of any color for Czech Republic in World Championship play. In addition to the silver being the first medal for the host nation, Spain (7-2) also earned its first World Championship medal after defeating Belarus (4-5) 77-68 in the bronze medal game.
"I think it really speaks to the talent, the amount of talent that we have in the U.S. I mean, here is a team filled with great players, and if you think back to the Olympics, we are missing two people who were in our top seven," said Bird, who now has two World Championship gold medals and one World Championship bronze to go with two Olympic golds. "When you look at some of the players that got left off this roster that could of made it, it just really speaks to our depth. I think that is why we are able to beat teams the way we did. We just kind of wear them down with our depth."
