In a battle of two Wildcats, the gold medal contest of the World University Games in Gwangju, the coach bested the student, as the US handled Canada to complete an undefeated run.

The United States team, coached by NU Head Coach Joe McKeown, handled recently graduated Karly Roser’s Canada squad 82-63 in a game that was tight until the fourth quarter, where the US put up 34 to pull away.

Karly Roser started for Canada, but struggled to get her feet under her and was in foul trouble early. She was called on two charges on the day, picked up four fouls before the end of the third quarter, picked up her fifth with 5 minutes left in the game, and was limited to just 9 minutes and change of playing time.

While Roser was never the focal point of the Canada offense (her best scoring performance was against Hungary when she scored 7 on 3/10 shooting), she logged serious minutes throughout the event, playing at least 20 minutes a game, including playing 38 minutes against Hungary, in every contest before the gold medal game. Roser was her typical self, not scoring a whole lot but making an impact on the game, rebounding well for her position, dishing out assists, and picking pockets.

For Joe McKeown’s victorious United States squad, it wasn’t quite as easy as one would’ve thought. The US handled business in group play and nearly doubled up Hungary in the quarterfinals, nearly doubling them up 84-43, but nearly lost ot in the semis to Japan. It took two extra periods for the US to emerge victorious, squeaking out a 102-98 double OT victory.

McKeown’s squad included Big Ten stars Brionna Jones from Maryland and Aerial Powers from Michigan State, who led the team in scoring and went for 27 points and 9 rebounds in the gold medal game.

Hopefully McKeown got some inside knowledge in how to slow Jones and Powers down, as the Wildcats will look to return to the Big Dance next season.