Allyssa DeHaan Helps USA Women’s U19 Team Win Exhibition Title

DeHaan leads all US players with nine blocks in the tournament.

SANTA CRUZ DE LA PALMA, Canary Islands - Michigan State sophomore center Allyssa DeHaan helped lead the USA Women’s U19 World Championship Team to a perfect 3-0 record at the pre-World Championship Tournament this past weekend, hosted by the La Palma Basketball Federation. The US defeated Australia (64-62), Brazil (90-75) and Spain (79-71) to claim the exhibition tournament title. With exhibition play concluded, the USA U19 women depart for Bratislava, Slovakia, and the 2007 FIBA U19 World Championship, which will be contested July 26-Aug. 5.

Seeing action in all three games, DeHaan averaged 3.7 points per game, 5.7 rebounds pg and 3.0 blocks pg. She led all US players with her nine blocks, including four in the tournament-opener vs. Australia. DeHaan also shot 50 percent from the field (4-for-8) in the tournament. The Big Ten Freshman of the Year collected seven rebounds against both Australia and Brazil, and scored six points against Spain.

"This pre-competition tournament has been very useful for us because we have such a young group," said USA U19 and DePaul University (Ill.) head coach Doug Bruno. "They needed to experience all the adversity we’ve dealt with, the tough travel and arriving just a few hours before our first game, before we travel to play in the world championship. Every single player on the team has done some good things, and now it is about finding consistency."

The USA opens U19 World Championship play on July 26 against Ivory Coast and then will face China on July 27 before concluding preliminary round play on July 28 against Lithuania. The second round will be contested July 30-Aug.1, the quarterfinals are slated for Aug. 3, semifinals will be held Aug. 4 and the gold medal will be contested July 5.