U.S., Paris Beat Cuba To Qualify For Beijing Olympics

Sunday, September 30th 2007, 7:03 pm

By: News On 6

VALDIVIA, Chile (AP) _ Tina Thompson scores 18 points to help the United States qualify for the 2008 Olympics with a 101-71 victory over Cuba Sunday in the gold medal game at the FIBA Americas tournament.

The U.S. squad, which included Oklahoma junior standout Courtney Paris, finished 5-0 in the tournament.

The U.S. was forced to qualify for an Olympic berth for the first time since 1980 because of a third-place finish at the World Championships last year.

Paris came off the bench in the final five minutes Sunday and scored one point. She earned her sixth gold medal as a member of USA Basketball. One of those came in July when she led the national under-21 team to a world championship.