Finding itself in unfamiliar territory, the 2012 USA Basketball Women’s U18 National Team (5-0) never panicked and fought back from a double-digit deficit to claim the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship gold medal with a 71-47 victory over Brazil (4-1) on Sunday night in Gurabo, Puerto Rico.

A trio of players posted double-doubles, while a total of four scored in double digits, including tournament MVP Breanna Stewart (Cicero-North H.S. / North Syracuse, N.Y.), who had 13 points and 10 boards and was the tournament’s second leading scorer (14.0 ppg.) and third leading rebounder (7.8 rpg). Morgan Tuck (Bolingbrook H.S./ Bolingbrook, Ill.), who topped the tournament charts for scoring (17.8 ppg.) closed the night with a team-high 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds; while Bashaara Graves (Clarksville H.S. / Clarksville, Tenn.) finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Michaela Mabrey (Manasquan H.S. / Belmar, N.J.) rounded out the USA’s top scorers with 14 points.

“Those three were workhorses down there,” said Katie Meier, USA U18 National Team and University of Miami head coach. “They just battled and battled and battled. When I say it was a physical game, it was an extremely physical game. So every time Bre (Stewart) or B (Bashaara Graves) or Morgan (Tuck) got a touch, it was well earned. They really had to even focus on a catch. They were getting swarmed. That’s what opened up Michael Mabrey and she just put us on her back there for awhile and brought us back into the game.”

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