Throughout their careers in College Park, Terps senior forwards Laura Harper and Crystal Langhorne have earned conference honors, have been named NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Players and have won a national championship.

Now they can add the title of world champion to their resumes.

Harper and Langhorne were part of the USA Under-21 Women’s Basketball team that went undefeated en route to the gold medal at the FIBA U21 World Championships in Moscow last week.

“It was a good feeling, hearing your anthem being the only one played,” Harper said, describing the medal ceremony.

“It felt good to represent your country, show what basketball in your country is all about, and dominate,” Langhorne said. Langhorne led the U.S. team with 23 points and 14 rebounds in a resounding 96-73 victory over Australia in the gold medal game Sunday. Harper and Langhorne helped the U.S. team to an 8-0 record in the championships. The only close contest was a narrow 90-88 comeback win over Australia in the tournament opener June 29.

The two were coached by Joanne McCallie, the new head coach of Duke’s women’s basketball team. McCallie said the ACC rivalry didn’t get in the way of the team’s gold medal aspirations.

“We didn’t think about it too much. I just love them as individuals,” McCallie said.

Playing with some of the nation’s brightest college stars, including Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris and Stanford’s Candice Wiggins, the Terps’ dynamic frontcourt duo still managed to stand out.

Langhorne had three double-doubles and led the team in scoring with 15.6 points per game and in rebounding, with 8.9 boards per contest. Harper averaged 7.1 points and 5.8 rebounds and had a team-high 13 points in a July 3 win over Spain.

“It’s not about individual play,” said Harper about what it was like playing on a team that looked like a college all-star squad. “It’s not about your school, it’s about the team.”

Nonetheless, Terps head coach Brenda Frese was pleased to see her players represent the program so well.

“It speaks volumes that we had two of the 12 players on that team,” Frese said.

Although both Harper and Langhorne agreed the under-21 gold medal ranked slightly behind the Terps’ 2006 NCAA title, winning the championship was still a great experience, they said.

“It means a lot,” said Langhorne. “I’ll always remember it, and it’s great to win gold medals.”

“Very very special,” said Harper of the championship. “I’m happy to get all of these opportunities to play basketball.”

Contact reporter Aaron Kraut at sports@dbk.umd.edu.