Dembele Readies for 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Women’s Basketball sophomore guard Mama Dembele is set to represent her home country of Spain in the 2021 FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup, Aug. 7-15 in Debrecen, Hungary.

Team Spain and Dembele begin group play on Saturday, Aug. 7 against Korea at 4:30 a.m. CT before squaring off with Brazil the next day at 7:00 a.m. CT. Spain concludes group play on Tuesday, August 10 at 4:30 a.m. CT against France. The contest against France has been marked as one of the “five must watch games” in the group phase.  

Dembele was a member of Spain’s national team at the 2019 U18 European Championships, averaging 3.3 points and 3.7 assists per game. The Manlleu, Spain native also helped lead Spain to a bronze medal finish and earned All-Star recognition at the 2018 U16 European Championships after averaging 5.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game.

Dembele had a marvelous freshman campaign for the Tigers earning All-SEC Freshman Team honors by averaging 3.3 points, 1.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game. Dembele was the only freshman in the SEC to start every game of their team’s season.

Her 35 steals and 59 assists ranked ninth and 10th, respectively, all-time among Mizzou freshman. The 5-6 guard dished out three-plus assists in 11 games and five-plus assists in four games. In her collegiate debut, Dembele scored a career-high eight points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field against North Alabama.  

All games of the 2021 FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup will be streamed live on YouTube at the FIBA – The Basketball Channel.