U16 team cruises past Puerto Rico

MEXICO CITY, Mexico - Led by 22 points from Betnijah Laney (Smyrna H.S. / Clayton, Del.), the 2009 USA Women's U16 National Team (2-0) relied on a balanced scoring attack that featured seven players in double figures to easily overpower Puerto Rico (0-2) 114-37 in FIBA Americas U16 Championship play on Tuesday afternoon at Juan de la Barrera Gym in Mexico City, Mexico.

"I thought our team continued to get better tonight, and they shared the ball extremely well," said Barbara Nelson, USA and Wingate University head coach "We told our girls regardless of the score Puerto Rico would play hard the entire 40 minutes, and they did. In return, it gave us the opportunity to play hard for 40 minutes also, which is important as we move forward."

In addition to Laney's 22 points, Elizabeth Williams (Princess Anne H.S. / Virginia Beach, Va.) contributed 13 points; Breanna Stewart (Cicero-North Syracuse H.S. / North Syracuse, N.Y.) added 12; Ariel Massengale (Bolingbrook H.S. / Bolingbrook, Ill.), Alexyz Vaioletama (Mater Dei H.S. / Fountain Valley, Calif.) and Justine Hartman (Brea Olinda H.S. / Brea, Calif.) tallied 11 points each; and Bashaara Graves (Clarksville H.S. / Clarksville, Tenn.) scored 10 points.

"We were very focused today, and we did a great job communicating," Vaioletama said. "It was hard for us at first to get stops. Their penetration was killing us, and we weren't rotating. We finally adjusted and starting talking and that made all the difference. We passed well, and we got some really good looks today. A lot of our offense came from our defense."

Puerto Rico put the game's first points on the board with a free throw at 9:44, followed by points from the charity stripe by Vaioletama and another Puerto Rican free throw at 8:54 that tied the score at 2-2. At the 8:21 mark, Williams converted on the inside to ignite a 14-0 U.S. run that gave the red, white and blue a 16-2 advantage when Laney sank a fast-break bucket at 5:35. Nine U.S. players combined for 16 more points in the period while Puerto Rico managed eight, and the scoreboard read 32-10 in the USA's advantage at the first break.

"We came out a little slow," Massengale said. "I don't think that we were truly focused at the start. Once we turned up our defense that really made our offense go for us and we clicked."