Aug. 11, 2017
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame women’s basketball junior Arike Ogunbowale has ventured across the globe this week to Tokyo, Japan, to represent both the Fighting Irish and the U23 USA squad in the U24 Four Nations Tournament.
The four-team round-robin tournament features the U23 USA women’s basketball squad clashing with Australia on August 12 at 5:30 a.m. ET, followed by Canada on August 13 at 3:30 a.m. ET and then host Japan on August 15 at 5:30 a.m. ET.
Back on August 4, Ogunbowale prevailed through a week of trials to make the cut from the top-36 collegiate athletes in the country to the final 12. The rising junior boasts the most gold medals of anyone on the team with four, and will look to add to her accolades this weekend inside the Katayanagi Arena.
Ogunbowale led the Irish in scoring (15.9 ppg) last season, including her career high 32-point performance vs. Ohio State in the Sweet 16. In fact, the Milwaukee native ended the year on a hot streak, averaging 22.5 points per game during Notre Dame’s run in the NCAA Tournament, marking the highest average among all players whose team reached the Elite Eight.
To follow Ogunbowale and Team USA’s progress throughout the tournament, please follow USA Basketball’s twitter account at @USABasketball for live updates.
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Josh Bates joined Fighting Irish Media as associate athletics communications director in July of 2017, serving as the women’s basketball and men’s golf contact. Bates earned both his bachelor’s (2011) and master’s (2014) degree in sports management from the University of Illinois. He also worked as a grad assistant at Illinois from 2012-14 and worked full-time at Tulane University from 2014-17.