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| Amber Obaze - Louisiana Tech |
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Louisiana Tech's Amber Obaze, along with her 2002 USA Basketball teammates, captured the gold medal by downing Brazil 81-50 at the inaugural Pan American Basketball Associations World Championship For Young Women Qualifying Tournament in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil.
"This feels great, especially since I tried the last two years to get to this point," said Obaze, who tried out for the 2000 and 2001 USA Basketball Junior National teams. "I finally got here. It's pretty amazing, and it makes it even better to have this gold around my neck."
With the 31-point victory, the North American squad completed the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record, outscoring its opponents by an average of 50.3 point a game. For the week, Obaze averaged 6.8 points a game and 2.0 steals while hitting 46 percent of her shots off the USA bench.
USA head coach Marsha Sharp said the experience would benefit all the players involved.
"International experience can toughen players," Sharp said following the win. "I've grown as a coach, and I hope they've grown as players."
Obaze's gold medal marked the second-straight summer a Lady Techster has earned such an award as part of USA Basketball as Ayana Walker led the 2001 USA Basketball World Championship team to a first place finish last August in China.