SAN JUAN — The United States women beat Puerto Rico 74-59 on Saturday in the championship game of the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup tournament at Coliseo Roberto Clemente.
The American team was made up of current college basketball standouts and coached by South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, who is also coach of the Olympic women’s team.
Kentucky senior guard Rhyne Howard had 22 points, five assists and three rebounds in the title game and was named MVP of the event. Overall, Howard averaged 13.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.7 steals in the Americans’ six victories.
South Carolina junior post player Aliyah Boston of St Thomas had a double-double Saturday with 17 points and a game-high 19 rebounds. NC State senior center Elissa Cunane had 12 points and six rebounds.
Michigan senior forward Naz Hillmon had eight points and 11 rebounds for the U.S. squad, while Maryland junior guard Ashley Owusu had eight points. All five are in the top 10 of ESPN’s list of top 25 women’s players for next college season.
Another in the ESPN top 10 who was on the U.S. squad was junior guard Haley Jones of defending national champion Stanford. She had two points and four rebounds on Saturday. Jones was named most outstanding player of the NCAA women’s tournament in April.