Former SD Standout Helps U.S. Defeat Egypt In FIBA U19 World Cup

SAN DIEGO, CA — The United States defeated Egypt, 97-36, Tuesday to conclude the group phase of the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup with former La Jolla Country Day School standout Te-Hina Paopao scoring eight points.

Paopao had two of her four assists as the U.S. outscored Egypt, 24-3, in the opening seven minutes, 20 seconds at Hodos Imre Sports Hall in Debrecen, Hungary.

The U.S. led 34-7 at the end of the first quarter, 55-19 at halftime and 81-23 entering the fourth quarter.

U.S. guard Azzi Fudd led all scorers with 18 points, making seven of eight shots. She is a senior at St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C. who has committed to play for the University of Connecticut.

Fudd is named for Jennifer Azzi, who led Stanford to the 1990 NCAA championship, was a member of the gold medal-winning 1996 U.S. Olympic team and a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

The U.S. (0-3) will begin play in the bracket portion of the tournament Wednesday facing Taiwan (0-3) at 8 a.m. 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