Faith Academy’s Sedona Prince, Team USA bring home bronze
Sedona Prince (standing, right) and her Team USA 16-and-under teammates pose with the third-place trophy after receiving their bronze medals from the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship on June 28.
JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER
PUEBLA, Mexico — Faith Academy of Marble Falls girls basketball player Sedona Prince added another bronze medal to her trophy case.
This one is for representing Team USA in the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship on June 28.
“I’m happy,” she said. “We tried our best and won something. I wish it was gold, but we qualified (for the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship.)”
That tournament will include gold-medalist China, silver-medalist Brazil and Mexico.
The center played in all five games to help Team USA go 4-1 with victories against host Mexico, 81-24, in the bronze-medal game, a rematch of the final pool game in which the Americans prevailed 85-44; Honduras, 86-41; and Argentina, 80-48. The squad’s only loss was to Brazil, 72-63. Team USA played a game a day. Prince said she and her teammates were in great physical shape because of the two-week training camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“It was easy to adjust to that because we went hard in Colorado,” said the 6-foot-7-inch center, who will be a sophomore next year at Faith Academy. She played her first season for Faith last year, helping the Lady Flames win a bronze at the state tournament for the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
During the FIBA tournament, Prince averaged 14 points and seven rebounds a game with eight total assists, six blocks and two steals.
She believes she has improved offensively, especially shooting from the outside and on free throws because of the extra instruction she received during training camp.
“My shooting has gotten 10 times better,” she said. “I think working with all those coaches has helped me a lot.”
Prince said she returns to Texas with much more self-confidence after playing with the country’s best players. In addition, she enjoyed wearing a Team USA T-shirt and answering questions about the experience from others who noticed her apparel.
As for her individual performance, Prince gave herself a 6, noting she believes she could have been a more physical post and attempted more shots.
“I really tried to be a factor on rebounding and blocking shots,” she said. “Usually, I focus on defense. In this tournament, I wanted to work on my offense.”
She is now preparing to rejoin her Amateur Athletic Union team, Cy-Fair in Houston. But she won’t quickly forget the summer of playing for Team USA.
“It’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me,” she said. “It’s amazing representing my country and doing something I love, seeing all those kids at the games and traveling the world with the best players in the country.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com