Harris and U.S. Advance to Gold Medal Game Sunday
July 29, 2017
UDINE, Italy ââ’¬” South Carolina guard Tyasha Harris and the United States used a dominant second quarter and held off a fourth-quarter surge to defeat Japan 73-66 in the medal semifinals of the FIBA U19 World Cup Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Americans advance to the gold medal game Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, looking for their seventh-straight gold at the event.
A close first quarter had the U.S. up just 24-22 after the opening 10 minutes of action. The Americans took control late in the second quarter, though, dominating the lane on both ends of the floor. After the quarter see-sawed back and forth early, the U.S. went up 32-30 with 5:27 to go in the period to launch a 14-3 run that delivered a 47-33 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, Harris dished out three of her game-high six assists as the U.S. extended its lead to 65-43 heading into the final quarter. Japan was not done, though, limited the Americans to just four field goals in the final period while its rally included 10-of-15 shooting. The Japanese scored the first eight points of the quarter to get to 65-51 before Harris secured an offensive rebounds and put it right back up to stop the skid. The U.S. led by 16 at 69-53 with 4:58 to play, but Japan had one more surge behind defense that stymied the Americans. A 5-0 Japan run was interrupted again by Harris, who assisted on a layup to keep the U.S. lead in double digits at 71-58 with 2:21 to go, which helped hold the Japanese at bay.
Harris was one of four Americans in double-figure points, scoring 10 in addition to her team-high six assists. She averages 5.2 assists per game to lead the United States and has committed just seven turnovers in six games.
The U.S. closes out the event against Russia in the gold medal game on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET in a rematch of the 2015 gold medal contest, which the Americans won behind the tournament MVP performance of Gamecock senior A’ja Wilson under the leadership of head coach Dawn Staley. Sunday’s game will stream live on ESPN3 and the Watch ESPN app.
