BELGRADE, Serbia — Georgia’s Ashley Houts scored 13 points to help the U.S. National Team dismantle the previously unbeaten Czech Republic, 115-78, at the World University Games on Tuesday.

With the victory, the Americans improved to 5-0 and secured a top seed from Group E for Thursday’s semifinals. The U.S. will face Australia, which lost 86-72 to the Russian Federation in a matchup for the top seed from Group F.

“It feels great,” Houts said. “It’s been a great team effort all around and we need to stay focused for the challenge that lies ahead of us. I think we’re going to rely on our hard work and what the coaches have told us in practice, what we need to do to exploit their team. We’re just working on
this as a team.”

The Americans blew the game wide open in the second period, outscoring the Czechs 35-17 to gain a 63-37 advantage at the intermission. The U.S. gradually extended that lead during the second half to eventually secure the 37-point victory.

Connecticut’s Tina Charles scored 20 points to lead five Americans in double digits, while three other players scored nine points apiece. No member of the U.S. roster played more than 24 minutes in the blowout.

Houts enjoyed an efficient shooting performance. She was 5-of-6, knocking down her first five two-point attempts before
failing to connect on her only shot from behind the arc in the fourth quarter. Houts was 3-of-4 from the line, missing her first free throw in 11 attempts in World University play, and also dished out two assists and collected two rebounds.

The U.S. and Australia will meet at 11:30 a.m. ET on Thursday in the first semifinal, with the Russians and Czechs following at 2:00. On Saturday, the bronze medal game will be played at 6:30 a.m. ET, with the gold medal contest following at 9 a.m. ET.

The Americans bounced back from a sluggish outing against Poland on Sunday. After winning the first three games by an average of 51.0 points, the U.S. defeated Poland by just eight, 75-67.

“I think it was a good wake up call for us,” Houts said. “We did some things wrong, but we did some good things, too. Tonight we wanted to come out and make a statement and focus on getting better within ourselves. That’s what we did. We’re excited about that.”

For the tournament, Houts is now averaging 9.2 points while shooting blistering percentages of .625 from the field, .545 from three-point range and .909 from the charity stripe.

- Georgia Sports Communications