U.S. Youth Olympic Games Teams Both Open Play Victorious

U.S. Men topple Turkey, 23-17, while U.S. Women Beat Angola, 30-8

Colorado Springs, Colo. • August 15, 2010

• Men's Box Score

• Women's Box Score

• Quotes: Men | Women

The U.S. Men’s and Women’s Youth Olympic Games teams each stood tall in their opening games in Singapore.

Angelo Chol (Herbert Hoover H.S./San Diego, Calif.) scored 10 points to lead the U.S. men to a 23-17 win over Turkey, and 12 points from Kiah Stokes (Linn-Mar H.S./Marion, Iowa) paced the U.S. women to a 30-8 victory over Angola in each team’s first of five preliminary round games at the first-ever Youth Olympic Games.

Amber Henson (Sickles H.S./Tampa, Fla.) scored 10 points, and the U.S. women outscored Angola in the paint, 24-4, while the U.S. men held a 14-6 advantage over Turkey in that category.

“Well, it was definitely our strategy to begin pounding the ball inside as much as we could,” said U.S. men’s head coach Eric Flannery (St. Edward H.S., Ohio). “It’s just such a different game that we’re not accustomed to. Just the fact that our guys got the win against a very good basketball team – and did it with this style of play, without being extremely familiar with it – I was very satisfied.”

“They were small, so I did go a little big with Kiah and Amber,” said U.S. women’s head coach Kathy Richey-Walton (Southwest DeKalb H.S., Ga.). “Once we realized they didn’t have an answer for both of them at the same time, we just pounded it away, and they couldn’t stop it.”

Brandan Kearney (Detroit Southeastern H.S./Detroit, Mich.) added eight points for the men, while Sterling Gibbs (Seton Hall Prep/Scotch Plains, N.J.) chipped in three points, two steals and an assist. K.C. Caudill (Brea Olinda H.S./Brea, Calif.) had two points in just three minutes, while the men held Turkey to 5-of-29 shooting from the field.

Stokes shot 6-of-10 from the field for the women, and Henson 4-of-10. Andraya Carter (Buford H.S./Flowery Branch, Ga.) had five points, two assists and three steals, while Briyona Canty (Trenton Catholic Academy/Willingboro, N.J.) had three points, five assists and three blocks. Overall, the U.S. Women limited Angola to 2-of-14 shooting while forcing 18 turnovers.

The U.S. men play Israel on Aug. 16 at 10 a.m. (all times are Singapore local, +12 hours from Eastern Daylight Time.) in their second preliminary round Group C game. The U.S. Women take on host Singapore on Aug. 16 at 11:30 a.m. in their preliminary round game in Group B.

Each game can be seen live over the Internet by going to youtholympicgames.org and clicking on the basketball channel.

2010 Youth Olympic Games

Scheduled to take place every four years, the inaugural Youth Olympic Games men's and women's 3-on-3 basketball competition will feature a total of 40 teams from 38 different countries.

The basketball competition will be played on a half-court in two, five-minute periods. The first team to score 33 points, or the team with the most points at the end of regulation, wins. Each team operates with a 10-second shot clock, and the ball must be brought out behind the 3-point line to score. The player who first gets the ball over the 3-point line, though, has to make one additional pass before a basket can count.

The Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games are expected to include as many as 5,000 athletes and officials participating from 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), along with an estimated 1,200 media representatives, 20,000 local and international volunteers and more than 500,000 spectators. Athletes 14 to 18 years old are eligible to compete in 26 sports and take part in cultural and educational programs.