U.S. Juniors Bring Home Gold

Women's Basketball, Oct 2004

The USA Basketball Women's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team floored Puerto Rico 121-56 to capture the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

Team USA opened the game with a 23-6 run and never looked back. Team USA scored the first eight points off offensive rebounds and held a 36-8 rebounding edge in the first half alone.

Tennessee signee Candace Parker scored 29 points and threw down her third slam dunk of the tournament.

"This was a great experience, winning a gold medal," said Parker. "This was a great team. I couldn't have imagined ending it any other way."

Courtney Paris pulled in a game-high 13 rebounds, while Eriana Larkins had 10 rebounds off the bench.

Team USA won its games in the tournament by an average margin of 81 points and averaged 122 points a contest.

Team USA qualified for the 2005 Women's Junior World Championships in Tunisia next July.