‘To get MVP was an added bonus.’ Rhyne Howard leads USA to gold medal at AmeriCup.

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

The United States women’s basketball team, with Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard leading the way, swept its way to the gold medal at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Americans finished the tournament 6-0 after defeating Puerto Rico 74-59 in the championship game Saturday.

Howard, who was named tournament MVP, finished with 22 points and five assists, and her 8-for-20 shooting from the field and 4-for-10 from three-point range set U.S. women’s AmeriCup records for field goal attempts and three-point attempts.

“I really wasn’t looking for the MVP, just to provide for my team and produce for my team and get us a win,” said Howard, who averaged 13.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. “To get MVP was an added bonus.”

It was the USA’s second straight FIBA AmeriCup gold medal and fourth overall. And it was the third time Howard has won a gold medal as part of Team USA.

“We got together for a short amount of time, and then to come here and put it all together, and work together as if we played for months, and then to use what the coaches have taught us and apply it on the floor and be able to make adjustments and stay together through adversity, is just great for us as a whole and even for the country,” Howard said.

Aliyah Boston (South Carolina) scored 17 points and collected a USA women’s AmeriCup record 19 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards, to help the USA compile a 63-37 rebounding advantage over Puerto Rico.

Elissa Cunane (N.C. State), who scored 12 points and had six rebounds, joined Howard on the all-tournament team, along with Brazil’s Clarissa Dos Santos, Colombia’s Manuela Rios and Puerto Rico’s Jennifer O’Neill, a former Kentucky Wildcats star point guard.

O’Neill averaged 16.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.