The U.S. continued their dominance Sunday in another lopsided win, this time over Australia, as they captured the crown at the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup in Hungary.
The women – joined this year by former La Jolla Country Day School standout Te-Hina Paopao – won their ninth title at the event thanks to the 70-52 win.
The U.S. defeated Hungary, 75-42, Saturday to make it to the title game. Paopao scored six points.
The U.S. built early leads throughout the tournament, but Australia hung in there in the final, at Hodos Imre Sports Hall in Debrecen, Hungary.
The U.S. led 36-28 at the half, but began to pull away in the 3rd quarter. U.S. guard Diamond Johnson, of North Carolina State, led all scorers with 15 points. Paopao added 10, while also contributing four rebounds and five assists.
The U.S. has won seven of the past eight editions of the tournament and eight of 13 overall. .
Players must be born on or after Jan. 1, 2002, to be eligible to play.
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. 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 Oregon last season.
City News Service contributed to this report.