BANGKOK, Thailand - A summer after helping Team Australia earn their place in the FIBA Under-19 World Cup, sophomore Ula Motuga earned her spot on the Gem's World Cup squad this summer as the team goes for gold in Bangkok, Thailand. Motuga joins 12 of her compatriots as they play in Group C in pool play beginning July 20. The tournament runs from July 20-28.

Australia enters the tournament ranked No.7 in the world with a team full of experienced young talent who took home the bronze medal at the U-17 World Cup last summer. Early pool play will test the Gems with Group C including three of the top four teams from last summer's U-17 World Cup. Australia will face off against the USA (ranked first), Hungary (ranked 14^th) and Korea (ranked 15^th) over three games of pool play.

Last October, Motuga and the Gems finished the U-18 Asian Championships 4-2 and defeated Korea in the bronze medal game to earn their spot in the World Cup. The win over Korea avenged the Gems' only other loss of the tournament in group play, winning the bronze with an impressive 75-58 victory. Throughout her week in India, Motuga proved herself among her peers, finishing the championships with an average of 8.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and just under 1.0 assists and steals per game in 19 minutes of action. Her biggest performance came against the best competition as Motuga posted her tournament best of 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting against Japan in the semifinals.

Last season with the Cougars, Motuga played in 26 contests including starting the final eight games of the season. She finished second on the team in blocks with 17 and averaged 3.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while shooting 32.7% from the field. 

FIBA will live-stream the entire tournament via their YouTube channel.

Stats are also available via the official tournament website.

The Australian Gems Schedule for the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup (all times converted to PST):

July 20: Gems vs. USA at 12:15am
July 21: Gems vs. Hungary at 5:15am
July 23: Gems vs. Korea at 5am
July 24: Round of 16
July 26: Quarter-Finals
July 27: Semi-Finals
July 28: Medal Games