Faieta, center, on the medal stand after Team USA's championship win over Lithuania. |
Skyhawks All-American finishes tournament sixth in scoring
Faieta World Deaf Basketball Championships Photo Album
EASTON, Mass. (July 13, 2015) – Recent Stonehill College graduate and women's basketball All-American Tori Faieta (Lynn, Massachusetts/Saint Mary's) helped lead Team USA to a gold medal at the 2015 World Deaf Basketball Championships in Taiwan over the weekend.
The United States women's deaf basketball team posted a 68-54 victory over Lithuania in Sunday's championship game. Faieta led USA with a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds as she made 7-of-12 shots from the floor and went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line. She also added an assist in 22 minutes. USA led 23-14 after the first quarter and then 32-23 at the half before extending the lead to 53-36 entering the fourth quarter.
Faieta averaged a team-high 14.9 points per game over Team USA's seven games, ranking sixth among all scorers at the Championships. Team USA won all seven of its games in the tournament, earning a top seed after posting a 4-0 mark in pool play. Faieta also opened the Championships with a double-double in a 57-47 come from behind win over Ukraine in game one of pool play as she registered 19 points (6-for-14 FGs, 7-for-9 FTs) and 16 rebounds to go with three blocked shots and an assist. She added 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks in 14 minutes of a 95-38 win over Japan in game two and then posted 12 points (6-for-8 FGs), six boards, two steals and an assist in an 89-26 win over Turkey. Faieta closed out pool play with 16 points (8-13 FGs), six rebounds, two assists and a steal in a 69-39 win over Italy.
Team USA opened the medal round with an 84-19 triumph over host Chinese-Taipei, racing out to a 26-2 first quarter lead, as Faieta registered ten points, six boards (five offensive), an assist and steal over 16 minutes. Faieta scored a tournament-high 20 points in USA's 76-37 win over Greece in the semifinals on Saturday as she shot 8-of-9 from the floor and 4-for-6 at the free-throw line. She also pulled down nine rebounds and added a block and a steal in 16 minutes. USA again used a big first quarter push to take control of the game, leading 28-8 after ten minutes.
Faieta recently completed a standout career at Stonehill which saw her named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II Coaches' All-America Team as well as a Division II Bulletin All-American following her senior season. The Daktronics All-East Region pick and unanimous All-NE-10 first team honoree this past season started all 29 games for Stonehill this winter and averaged a double-double with 15.4 points (8th NE-10) and 10.4 rebounds per game (2nd) to go with 1.9 assists and a Conference-high 2.1 blocked shots in 26.6 minutes per game. Faieta ranked 12th nationally in Division II for defensive rebounds per game (8.0), 23rd for double-doubles, 25th for blocked shots and 32nd for rebounds per game.
Faieta, named to the All-Tournament team at the NCAA Tournament's East Regional in March, was a three-time All-NE-10 selection and finished her four year career at Stonehill ranked 13th in program history with 1,402 points, while her 215 career blocked shots rank second all-time and her 880 rebounds third in program history. Her 103 career games started ranks third all-time and her .497 field goal percentage fifth. Faieta's 302 rebounds this season rank second on the program's all-time single-season list (just ten shy of former All-American and Stonehill Hall of Famer Suzanne Patchett's '97 single-season record of 312 in 1996-97), while her 10.4 rebounds per game finished just 0.1 shy of Julie Stockwell's '00 single-season mark of 10.5. Faieta's career-high matching 62 blocks this season is tied for third on the program's all-time single-season list, just 11 shy of Kelsey Simonds' 10 record of 73 in 2007-08. Faieta was named to the NE-10 All-Rookie team as a freshman and has earned NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll status six semesters and Athletic Director's Honor Roll one semester for her performance in the classroom.
Stonehill finished its 2014-15 season with a 24-5 record overall, including an 18-2 mark in the Northeast-10 to win the Northeast Division Championship. The Skyhawks, ranked 13th in the final regular season USA TODAY Sports/WBCA Division II poll, earned the 23rd NCAA bid in program history, advancing to the East Regional Championship for the eighth time in program history.
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