Aug. 15, 2017
TOKYO, Japan ââ’¬” Notre Dame women’s basketball junior Arike Ogunbowale entered the inaugural Four Nations Tournament this past weekend with the most gold medals (4) of any other player on the USA U23 squad. Early on Tuesday morning, Ogunbowale added to her international trophy collection when Team USA defeated Japan, 103-71, thus completing a perfect 3-0 sweep of the round-robin tournament that was held at the Katayanagi Arena in Tokyo.
After Team USA dispatched Australia, 78-60, in game one, Ogunbowale spearheaded the attack in game two in the 107-61 victory over Canada. Ogunbowale tallied a team high 17 points, in which she recorded nine points in the opening quarter. The Notre Dame junior also picked up a team best four steals, which later stood as the single-game high-steal mark by a US player in the tournament.
Next, Ogunbowale tacked on a 7-point, 7-rebound performance in the emphatic 32-point win over Japan, as Team USA went on to celebrate its Four Nations championship.
All in all, Ogunbowale averaged 8.3 points per game on 8-of-23 shooting over the three games, including an 8-for-10 mark from the free-throw line and an average of 3.0 rebounds per game as well.
The purpose of the 2017 Four Nations Tournament was to provide meaningful competition and development opportunities, while Team USA further developed its athlete pipeline for future participation in the National Team pool.
Up next, Ogunbowale trades in her red, white and blue for her Irish blue and gold with the first day of classes at Notre Dame slated for Tuesday, August 22.
–ND–
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.