After winning the gold in 2010, the USA team was one of the teams selected to play in the 2011 World's Championships. Prior to the formal start of the tournament, the USA team played an exhibition game against Brazil on June 5, 2011, winning the game 49–37. The team was finalized following the game, with twelve players identified to compete in the World Championships in
Puerto Montt and
Puerto Varas, Chile in July. The USA selection committee chose the team members to represent the USA. The twelve players selected were: • Jordan Adams (Mater Dei H.S. / Irvine, Calif.) • Cierra Burdick (Butler H.S. / Matthews, N.C.) • Diamond DeShields (Norcross H.S. / Norcross, Ga.) •
Stefanie Dolson (Connecticut / Port Jervis, N.Y.) •
Bria Hartley (Connecticut / North Babylon, N.Y.) • Alexis Jones (Irving MacArthur H.S. / Irving, Texas) • Ariel Massengale (Bolingbrook H.S. / Bolingbrook, Ill.) •
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (Mater Dei H.S. / Anaheim, Calif.) • Imani Stafford (Winward H.S. / Los Angeles, Calif.) •
Breanna Stewart (Cicero-North Syracuse H.S. / North Syracuse, N.Y.) •
Morgan Tuck (Bolingbrook H.S. / Bolingbrook, Ill.) • Elizabeth Williams (Princess Anne H.S. / Virginia Beach, Va.) The opening game for the USA team was against Japan, who started out with a very early lead, 5–2. The USA team played with what head coach
Jennifer Rizzotti called. "a lot of intensity". USA's
Bria Hartley tied the game with a three-pointer, and the USA team went on a 20–2 run to take a large lead 22–7. However, Japan came back, and cut the lead to 27–22 in the second quarter. The lead was up to 17 points at halftime, but Japan took advantage of a "defensive lapse" in the second half, and cut the lead to eight points. The margin was still within single digits in the fourth quarter, when the USA team concentrated on defense, and went on a 10–3 run, leading to a final score of 85–63. Bria Hartley was the leading scorer with 18 points. Breanna Stewart had a double-double, with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Ariel Massengale was the assists leader, with five. The USA team shot 54% from the field, and held the Japanese team to a 28% shooting percentage. In the next game against Russia, the USA team never trailed, playing with better defensive intensity, according to Coach Rizzotti. The scoring started slowly, with the score tied at six apiece more than six minutes into the game. The USA team then went on a 12–1 run, and never relinquished the lead, finishing with a 76–53 win. Diamond DeShields was the top scorer for the USA team, with 16 points. The USA team held the Russian team to 26% shooting. The third game typically determines which teams make it to the medal round, but that wasn't the case in this game. The Argentine team had been mathematically eliminated, and the USA team was certain to move on, win or lose. However, both teams played to win, and Argentina took an early lead 7–3. However, a balanced offense proved too much for the Argentine team. With eleven of the twelve USA players scoring between five and twelve points, led by Breanna Stewart on 3–3 shooting from the field, the USA team had too much offense and defense. The USA team held the opposition to under 30% shooting for the third consecutive game, allowing the Argentine team only a 27% shooting percentage. The USA team won the game 83–49, advancing them to the second round. The USA team faced its toughest test to date in their match-up against China. The USA squad began the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead, but the team from China went on to score 31 points in the period. They started the period with a 12–2 run, cutting the lead to two points. It remained close, and was a tie game at 72 points apiece with 1:26 left to play.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis hit a three-pointer, one of five she hit during the game. After a score by China,
Bria Hartley hit the three to extend the lead to four points. China responded with a three-pointer, cutting the lead back to a single point. With a half a minute to go in the game, Hartley passed underneath to Stefanie Dolson, who scored the final points of the game. China tried to tie the score with a three-pointer, but aggressive defense by Elizabeth Williams forced China to take an off-balance shot. Hartley rebounded the miss, and the USA team finished with an 80–77 win. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis led all scorers with 19 points, followed closely by Bria Hartley with 18. Stefanie Dolson had 12 points and eight rebounds, while Elizabeth Williams had a game-high nine rebounds. China shot 50% from beyond the arc, hitting 11 of their 22 three-point attempts. In the next game, against Italy, the USA team started off strong, opening up a 31–13 lead early. Coach Rizzotti was happy with the team's intensity, that led to a 90–64 win over Italy. Cierra Burdick shot 5–7 from the field and hit 8 of 9 free throws to lead the team in scoring with 17 points. Her nine rebounds were a team high. The USA team shot well overall, hitting 55% of their shots. The USA team outrebounded their opponents 44–22. This win set up a match-up between the USA team and Canada, each coming into the game with spotless (5–0) records. Canada jumped out to an early 6–0 lead. Although the USA team closed the gap to 8–6, Canada extended the lead to double digits. The USA team was plagued by poor shooting, hitting only a third of their shots in the game, and ending up only marginally better, at 36%. Canada started out shooting well, over 60% in the first quarter, but would end up with a lower shooting percentage than the US at 35%. However, turnovers would be a key measure, as the USA team turned the ball over 24 times, the most of any game they played so far, leading to more shooting opportunities for the team from Canada. Ariel Massengale was the only USA player to score in double digits with 17 points. In contrast, Canada had three double-digit scorers, led by 24 points for Michelle Plouffe. Canada won the game 64–52. Both teams were still in medal contention. The following game was against the team from France. The USA team started out slowly, hitting only one of their first six shots at the basket. France pulled out to a 14–5 early lead, hitting two-thirds of their shot attempts in the first quarter, and extended the lead to a 13-point margin during the first half. The USA team came back, but was still down 30–25 at halftime. The USA team cut into the lead in the third quarter, but with one quarter to go, France led 49–47. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who would score nine of her thirteen points in the final quarter, helped the USA take the lead, and the USA team pulled out to an eleven-point lead with just over six minutes to play. However, France hit consecutive three-pointers as part of a 9–0 run to bring the margin down to two points. With just over a minute to play, the score was even at 64 points apiece. Bria Hartley passed to Breanna Stewart, who was fouled going for the basket. She sank both free throws. After a turnover by France, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored with 23 seconds to go to give the USA a four-point lead. France did not score again, and the USA won the game 70–64. The USA opponent in the semi-final game was Brazil. Each team had a single loss, with the USA losing to Canada, and Brazil losing to France. The teams traded leads early on, then Brazil moved out to a four-point margin 13–9.
Bria Hartley hit back-to-back three-point attempts to put the USA back in a lead. Hartley ended up scoring 20 points in the first half, helping the team to a thirteen-point halftime lead. Brazil cut the lead to five points in the second half, but the USA built the lead back to double digits, was never seriously threatened again, and won the game 82–66. Hartley was the team's leading scorer with her 20 first-half points, while Ariel Massengale led the team with nine assists. Breanna Stewart and Cierra Burdick had nine rebounds apiece. The USA team faced Spain in the gold medal game. In the opening minutes, the lead changed several times, until the USA team went on a 14–3 run to open up a 25–12 lead just before the end of the first quarter. The USA team extended the lead to 15 points by halftime. The USA team did not have great shooting, with under 40% for the game, but defensively held Spain to under 30%. USA's Stefanie Dolson said "Last year was an experience of a lifetime because that was qualifying for here. Then winning the world championship gold medal is so surreal. Getting up there, getting the gold around your neck, it's a moment you'll never forget". Dolson was one of the three high-scorers for the game, with 15 points, sharing the honors with Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, and Elizabeth Williams. The all-tournament team included two members of the USA squad, Ariel Massengale and Breanna Stewart. ==2012 U18 results==