Devils in Detail
Fansided

ASU Women’s Basketball: Reili Richardson earns silver with Team USA

By Sam Ficarro

TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 14: The Arizona State Sun Devils mascot 'Sparky' performs during the college football game against the Washington Huskies at Sun Devil Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Huskies 27-17. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 14: The Arizona State Sun Devils mascot 'Sparky' performs during the college football game against the Washington Huskies at Sun Devil Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Huskies 27-17. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

ASU women’s basketball point guard finished play in the FIBA U-19 Women’s World Cup, where Team USA earned silver medal after losing to Russia in the Final.

ASU women’s basketball player Reili Richardson finished her time in Italy Sunday as Team USA lost in the Gold Medal Game to Russia to earn the silver medal.

Team USA were undefeated in the exhibitions leading up to the tournament and in the World Cup before losing Sunday.

After finishing atop Group A, the United States played Puerto Rico in the Round of 16 with the Americans running away with a 104-46 win.

Richardson played 15 minutes recording two points on 0-for-5 shooting along with one rebound, one steal and one block.

In the quarterfinals, USA faced France.

After it was tied at the end of the first quarter, the U.S. outscored France in the final three quarters for a 78-51 victory.

More from Devils in Detail

The sophomore point guard finished with two points and one assist on 1-for-2 shooting in six minutes played.

In the semifinals, the United States defeated Japan holding off a late fourth quarter surge in which Japan outscored the U.S. 23-8 in the final frame.

Richardson played five minutes and didn’t record any stats as she shot 0-for-1 from the field in a 73-66 win.

The win sent the Americans into the Final where they met Russia in a rematch of the Final two years ago.

It was a highly competitive game, but it was Russia who finished the game strong outscoring Team USA by 10 in the second half to win the World Cup title 86-82.

The loss for the United States ended a run of six-straight U-19 World Cup championships as Russia won the tournament for the first time in 28 years.

Richardson didn’t play in the Final.

In six games played, Richardson finished the tournament averaging 10.7 minutes a game, 2.8 points per game on 22 percent shooting, 0.8 rebounds and 0.2 assists.

A positive Richardson can take away is the experiencing of playing the best international players in the world in her age group and her three-point ability.

Richardson didn’t take a lot of threes last season with Arizona State as she was focused on getting the ball inside seniors Sophie Brunner and Quinn Dornstauder.

In the NCAA Tournament, Richardson showed she can make threes and this experience has hopefully given her confidence to take those shots and make them.

In the nine games played with Team USA over the past two weeks, 19 of the 31 shots Richardson took were 3-point attempts.

Next: ASU Women’s Basketball: Reili Richardson helps USA to a 3-0 start

If Richardson gains more confidence taking and making those shots, that will make Arizona State a more dangerous team next season.