Add a gold medal to the impressive resume of Carol Owens.

The NIU women’s basketball coach and Hall of Fame Inductee served as an assistant for the USA Under 18 squad that steamrolled the opposition at the FIBA Americas Women’s Championship Tournament.

The US dominated the five-day tournament that was held at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Co.

“It was truly a great experience,” Owens said. “It’s really a special feeling to hear your national anthem played; a little taste of what the Olympics are like.”

Owens hits the recruiting trail fresh off coaching a team that posted a 39-point average margin of victory, won the gold medal by 35 points over Canada and an NIU team that made it to the second round of the MAC tournament.

All serve as attractive tools to potential recruits as Owens looks to continue to right the ship in her second year on the job.

“For the championship, we used some full court pressure and traps as well as ball denial,” Owens said. “We kept Canada from executing their offense which relies on a lot off off-screen movement.”

Owens worked as an assistant with Hartford coach Jennifer Rizzoti, and served under DePaul women’s basketball coach Doug Bruno, whom assumed head coaching duties.

“I’d do it over and over. It really helped that we had such a great chemistry within the staff,” Owens said. “Doug Bruno has 30 years of coaching experience and he told the team about the great rivalries between NIU and DePaul.

I certainly learned a lot from him and also from Jen, who was a player from the first of many UConn championship teams.”