BELGRADE, Serbia --- The U.S. National Team, including Georgia guard and former Dade County star Ashley Houts, rolled to an 81-64 victory over the Russian Federation in the Gold Medal game of the World University Games here on Saturday.
     After trailing 22-20 at the end of the first quarter, the Americans outscored Russia 19-9 in the second period to take a 39-31 lead at the half. The U.S. then opened the second half with a 9-0 run to push the lead to 48-31.
     Houts scored five points, grabbed a rebound and garnered a steal in 19 minutes of action in the game. For the tournament, the rising senior from Trenton, Ga., averaged 8.3 points per game by connecting on 52.6 percent of her field goal attempts, 47.1 percent of her three-pointers and 90.9 of her attempts at the line. She also averaged 1.7 steals and 1.6 assists.
     Connecticut's Tina Charles turned in a dominating performance against the Russians, scoring 28 points and grabbing 18 rebounds. Ohio State's Jantel Lavender added 14 points and Stanford's Kayla Pedersen chipped in 11.
     The Americans completed the competition with a perfect 7-0 record, defeating their opposition by an average of 33.0 points per game. Houts earned her second Gold Medal with USA Basketball. In 2007, she was the only rising sophomore on the American team that won the U21 World Championships in Moscow.