UCLA Women's Basketball: Dynamic Bruins Duo Discusses Star Turn In Summer FIBA Play
UCLA guards Londynn Jones and Kiki Rice submitted starring turns for Team USA this summer en route to their third (!) gold medal with Team USA in FIBA competition. The dynamic Bruins duo also won gold at the 2019 Under-16 FIBA Americas Championship and the 2022 Under-18 FIBA Americas Championship, per Scott Mammoser of The Next Hoops.
They helped propel Team USA to a 69-66 defeat of Team Spain on July 23rd, in Spain no less!
In 16:30 of action during that gold medal game, the 5'4" Jones scored just three points on 1-of-7 shooting from the floor and 1-of-2 shooting from the charity stripe, while also chipping in two rebounds and a steal, but she did log a solid +3, a testament to her on-court impact beyond the box score. For the overall FIBA tournament, she averaged 8.7 points on .375/.310/.769 shooting splits, 2.3 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 1.7 assists.
Across 23:55, the 5'11" Rice scored six points on 2-of-5 shooting from the field, pulled down five boards and dished out four dimes. In the tournament as a whole, Rice averaged 10 points on .429/.364/.857 shooting splits, 5.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 0.7 steals a night.
“We’ve been a part of other USA teams, but this is the first World Cup that we’ve done,” Rice said, per Mammoser. “It’s been a great experience, a great environment with tough competition. Londynn and I played the whole [2022-23] year together and other USA teams together. So we know how each other plays, and we help each other out. It’s been great having someone you’re so comfortable with at this experience.”
“The age group definitely matters,” Jones said of the competition prior to the tournament's conclusion. “We are playing against different age groups, different countries and competition. I think it puts us into a challenge, but I think we all work very hard and are all prepared, so we need to get the job done while we’re here.”
Generally, international competition tends to bleed over into a player's subsequent regular season, and improve the level of commitment and effort. Let's hope that holds for this tenacious tandem of rising Bruins sophomores.