Former La Jolla Student Leads U.S. To Wins In FIBA U19 World Cup

SAN DIEGO, CA — The United States will conclude the group phase of the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup on Tuesday after former La Jolla Country Day School standout Te-Hina Paopao helped it to two victories.

Paopao scored eight points, had a team-high-tying seven rebounds and a team-high seven assists in Saturday's 96-37 wire-to-wire victory over Italy to open the tournament in Debrecen, Hungary.

Paopao scored five points, had four assists and three steals in a 99- 59 victory over Australia on Sunday.

The U.S. will face Egypt (0-2) at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Pacific Daylight Time. The game will be streamed at Youtube.com/FIBA.

The U.S. has won seven of the past eight editions of the tournament and eight of 13 overall. It was first played in 1985, with tournaments held every four years. Since 2007, the tournament has been played every other year.

Players must be born on or after Jan. 1, 2002 to be eligible for the tournament.

Paopao, a 5-foot, 9-inch guard, led La Jolla Country Day to a 32-1 record and the No. 1 final national ranking as a senior in the 2019-20 season before the state tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. She averaged 22.7 points, eight rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.3 steals.

Paopao was an All-Pac-12 selection as a freshman at the University of Oregon in the 2020-21 season, averaging 10.2 points, 4.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds. She led all NCAA freshmen with a 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio.

— City News Service