“There was a lot of good play, but basically we made a ton of mistakes,” said USA U19 and DePaul University (Ill.) head coach Doug Bruno. “I think that’s to be expected with how little time we’ve had to practice, but we have to clean up our game, and we won’t make any excuses.

“We had some opportunities where we were in position to put the game away, and we didn’t. We don’t know each other well enough yet. The coaches don’t know the players yet, and it’s just been too fast. But that’s why we are here in the Canary Islands–to come together as a team.”
Bruno is being assisted on the sidelines by Cynthia Cooper-Dyke of Prairie View A&M University (Texas) and Carol Owens of Northern Illinois University.

Both teams struggled to shoot from the floor throughout, and the USA headed into the final stanza nursing a 49-44 lead. From there, Australia slowly closed the narrow gap and cut the U.S. lead to two, 60-58 at 2:40. Katie Ebzery then finished an old-fashioned 3-point play to give the Aussies their first fourth quarter advantage, 61-60, with just 1:58 remaining.

In the midst of three consecutive U.S. turnovers, Australia’s Abby Bishop was fouled as she missed an offensive putback. She made one of two free-throws to push her team’s lead to 62-60 at 1:17. A bucket from Angie Bjorklund (University H.S. / Spokane, Wash.) with 40 seconds remaining stopped the bleeding and evened the score, 62-62.

With 27 seconds left, Australia’s Jaimee Kennedy was fouled during on a loose ball scramble, but failed on both tries from the charity stripe and the score remained deadlocked 62-62. The U.S. secured the rebound, and while Allyssa DeHaan (Michigan State / Grandville, Mich.) missed on her first and second tries, Jantel Lavender (Cleveland Central Catholic H.S. / Cleveland, Ohio) scored on the third U.S. offensive rebound to give the USA it’s final 64-62 lead with 0.6 seconds on the clock.

Australia’s Bishop had a hurried look at the buzzer, but was blocked by Moore as time ran out.

“We knew that Australia was going to come hard at us, and they really did come out strong,” Wright said. “I feel that it was our defensive composure at the end that won the game for us. It was a really sloppy game, and hopefully we got all our kinks out. We just need to keep working, and I’m proud that my team didn’t give up.”

In addition to Wright and Moore, the USA was helped by nine points and seven rebounds from Lavender; eight points from both Melissa Lechlitner (Notre Dame / Mishawaka, Ind.) and Italee Lucas (Centennial H.S. / Las Vegas, Nev.); nine rebounds from Jasmine Thomas (Oakton H.S. / Fairfax, Va.); and seven boards and four blocked shots from DeHaan.

"There are lots of things we can fix by just being smart on the court and having the heart to improve,” Moore said. “Certain turnovers, getting after the ball, controlling the rebound, we can fix those things. As far as getting a flow in our offense and defense, that will come with time.”
Australia was lead by 15 points from Ebzery and 12 points and eight rebounds from Bishop.

The USA U19 women continue exhibition play July 20 against Brazil (6:00 p.m., all times listed are local Atlantic Daylight Time, which is +5 hours from EDT), and then against Spain (12:00 p.m.) on July 21, before departing for the 2007 FIBA U19 World Championship, which is being held July 26-Aug. 5 in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The USA opens U19 World Championship play in Bratislava on July 26 against Ivory Coast and then will face China on July 27 before concluding preliminary round play on July 28 against Lithuania. The second round will be contested July 30-Aug.1, the quarterfinals are slated for Aug. 3, semfinals will be held Aug. 4 and the gold medal will be contested July 5.

2007 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women
Sixteen countries will compete in the U19 World Championship for Women that will be held July 26-Aug. 5 in Bratislava, Slovakia. The draw for the 2007 FIBA U19 World Championship For Women was held by FIBA on March 6, and the USA was placed in Group B, along with China, Ivory Coast and Lithuania; Group A consists of Argentina, South Korea, Slovakia and Spain; Group C includes Canada, Czech Republic, Japan and Serbia; while Group D is comprised of Australia, Brazil, Mali and Sweden.
The USA qualified for the 2007 U19 World Championship after Bruno, as the USA’s head coach, led the U18 squad to a 4-0 slate and gold medal at the zone qualifier, the 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Women. The event was hosted by USA Basketball at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Originally known as the FIBA Junior World Championship, the tournament is held every four years and was first held in 1985. USA women's teams are 32-10 in the U19/Junior World Championships, capturing gold with an 8-0 record most recently in 2005.