Paige Bueckers scored 17 points and led the United States to a 74-70 overtime victory over Australia for the title of the women's FIBA U19 World Cup in Bangkok.
Hopkins' Paige Bueckers is MVP of U19 World Cup
July 30, 2019 at 4:49AM
Bueckers, who plays high school basketball for Hopkins, was selected tournament MVP after averaging 11.6 points, 5.4 assists and 5.2 rebounds in seven games.
Bueckers joins an impressive list of former USA U19 MVP, which includes Crystal Langhorne (2005), Nneka Ogwumike (2009), Breanna Stewart (2013) and A'Ja Wilson (2015).
"It's kind of crazy to think about being surrounded by those names," Bueckers said. "They did so much in college and the pros, which is where I want to end up, so I just have to keep working. But yeah, it's crazy that I got this. I wasn't expecting it."
Bueckers, the national No. 1 high school basketball prospect in the Class of 2020, announced in April that she will play college basketball for national power UConn.
The U.S. team had won its previous six games by an average of 22 points before being tested by Australia in the tournament final.
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Six players plus head coach Garrett Raboin and assistant coach Ben Gordon are from Minnesota. The tournament’s games will be televised starting Monday.
