Golden, baby – U16s beat Brazil for the gold medal

A decisive 73-40 victory meant gold medal for the USA U16 team last night:Eleven of 12 players scored for the USA, including four in double figures. Linnae Harper (Whitney M. Young H.S./Chicago, Ill.) led the way with 12 points, five steals and four assists; followed by Jannah Tucker (New Town H.S./Randallstown, Md.) with 11 points five rebounds and five assists; Rebecca Greenwell (Owensboro Catholic H.S./Owensboro, Ky.) with 10 points and three assists; and Mercedes Russell (Springfield H.S./Springfield, Ore.) with 10 points and 12 rebounds.Now THAT’S a team effort.It was also a record-breaking one:In the USA U16 competition record book, six individual records were broken and two were tied, including Greenwell with points averaged (15.6), field goals attempted (tied, 29), field goals made (62) and 3-pointers made (11) and attempted (tied, 24). Russell set new highs for rebounding (11.4) and blocked shots (4.0), and Harper owns the steals mark (3.4). As a team, the USA established competition records for rebounds (322), rebounds averaged (64.4), blocked shots averaged (9.6) and steals averaged (17.4). All of the previous competition records were set in the inaugural FIBA Americas U16 Championship in 2009. Check out the main page for a dope group photo with the medals.