Lawson Strikes Gold At World University Games

Sept. 3, 2001

University of Tennessee Lady Vol basketball player Kara Lawson and her World University Games squad captured the women's basketball gold medal with an 87-69 triumph over the host team, China, in Beijing on Friday, August 31.

The Alexandria, Va., native, who served as the U.S. team captain, finished third on the team in scoring with an eight-game average of 12.0 ppg. Lawson pumped in 13 points on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc in the championship game as the American team defeated the Chinese for the third time in two weeks.

"I'm just so excited for the team and everyone because we worked so hard," said Lawson. "To beat a great team like China three times is a huge accomplishment. I'm just really proud of this team."

The 5-9 guard, previously a member of the 1998 bronze medal-winning USA World Youth Games Team, competed this summer fresh off a sophomore season at UT where she achieved All-Southeastern Conference honors and established herself as the all-time leading three-point shooter in Lady Vol history. She finished third on the Lady Vol squad in scoring at 11.4 ppg and was first in assists with 113 while helping the Orange and White to an unprecedented 10th regular-season SEC Championship, the school's 20th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament and an overall mark of 31-3.

The USA team opened preliminary play in pool B alongside Canada, Japan and South Africa as one of 17 countries in four pools vying to advance to the medal round. During preliminary play the U.S. went 2-1 with its only loss coming to Canada 68-67. After advancing to the quarterfinals into Pool E, the U.S. team dispatched Russia (79-68), China (89-78) and Brazil (82-62) to qualify for the semifinals with an overall record of 6-1. In the semis Lawson and her teammates beat Lithuania 70-49 to set up the third meeting with the Chinese in the last two weeks. The U.S. squad had earlier defeated China on Aug. 16 in the Dong Du Cup, 92-89.

The victory gives the United States 12 medals all-time in 13 appearances at the World University Games with five golds, and the team's 7-1 tournament mark upped Team USA's all-time record at the tournament to 74-15 (.831).

2001 USA BASKETBALL WOMEN'S WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES TEAM

Chantelle Anderson---Vanderbilt

Cori Enghusen---Stanford

Chrissy Floyd---Clemson

Caton Hill---Oklahoma

Kara Lawson---Tennessee

Ashley McElhiney---Vanderbilt

Carisse Moody---North Carolina State

Jenny Roulier---Colorado

Ayana Walker---Louisiana Tech

Shaquala Williams---Oregon

Shereka Wright---Purdue