Banghart Helps USA Basketball To Inaugural Four Nations Tournament Victory

TOKYO – The United States U23 women's basketball team won the inaugural U24 Four Nations Tournament with an impressive 103-71 victory over the host nation, Japan, today.

The U.S. squad, led by head coach Jeff Walz (Louisville) and assisted by Michelle Clark-Heard (Western Kentucky) and Princeton head coach Courtney Banghart, ran out to an early 23-10 first quarter lead and never looked back in taking home the round-robin title.

Earlier in the tournament, the U23 team handed Australia its only loss, 78-60. The United States followed that with a 36-point decision (107-61) over Canada before dropping Japan today.

The 2017 U24 Four Nations Tournament provided meaningful competition and development opportunities. The USA's participation in the tournament was intended to help further develop the USA Basketball athlete pipeline and to help prepare athletes for possible future participation in the USA Basketball Women's National Team pool.

Banghart recently finished her 10th season as head coach of the Tigers, surpassing the 200-win milestone during the season. She is the program's all-time leader in victories (208) and sits with a .705 winning percentage.

During her tenure, Princeton has experienced extraordinary heights. The Tigers reached the postseason for the eighth straight season in 2016-17 with a Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) selection. Banghart was picked as the 2015 Naismith National Coach of the Year and included as one of the Fortune Magazine's 50 Greatest Leaders after the 2014-15 campaign.

Princeton's undefeated 30-0 regular season in 2014-15 was the best in Ivy League basketball history, men's or women's. Under Banghart's guidance, the Tigers also achieved the highest-ever ranking for an Ivy program, climbing as high as No. 13 in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. The Tigers would go on to finish with a program-best mark of 31-1. With an 80-70 first round victory over ninth-seeded Green Bay, Princeton became just the second Ivy program to record an NCAA win.

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