Clark wins gold, MVP honors

The hat trick of gold medals has been achieved for Caitlin Clark, as she helped lead Team USA to a 70-52 win in the FIBA U19 World Cup this afternoon. Clark has now won gold medals at the 2017 FIBA U16 Americas, 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup and now the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup.

The championship was a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final and was their second meeting of the tournament. The Australians made Team USA work harder than the first contest, trailing just 36-28 at halftime. Clark led the team with 5 assists in the opening half, but struggled from the field going 0/4. Caitlin drew from her experiences back in 2019 and knew that the game would not resemble the 40 point win they had in pool play.

“Definitely my experience in 2019 helped. Just knowing that Australia was going to hang with us for most of the time, especially during the first half. It’s a similar situation as last time.”

In the second half, Clark was able to get a couple of shots to drop, but her presence was felt on other parts of the stat sheet, grabbing eight rebounds and dumping off eight assists. Despite, scoring a tournament low nine points, Clark assisted or scored 28 of the teams 70 points. Team USA outscored Australia 34-24 in the second half to distance their lead and clinch their 9th U19 Title.

“Every single time I do this, it’s really special, but with this group of girls, playing a prominent role, this is my first time being the oldest one, it was different for me. It was a lot of fun for me to lead them and show them the ropes,” said Clark as she reflected on what this gold medal meant to her.

Clark was able to add to her growing list of accolades after the game, as she was named to the All-Tournament team and was named the World Cup tournament MVP. In seven games, Clark recorded 100 points, 37 rebounds, 39 assists, 7 steals and 6 blocks.

Her most outstanding performance came in preliminary play vs Australia, when she scored 24 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out seven assists in the 99-59 win. The game included a stretch where Clark made four three pointers in a span of two minutes. Team USA head coach Cori Close said Clark’s ability to not only score, but to find open teammates for baskets, “makes her elite”.

“We all came together so well. That’s what made this experience so fun, it wasn’t just individuals, it was the whole team, the coaching staff, everybody who is here put in a lot of time and that’s what made this whole tournament so fun for all of us,” said Clark.