Old Westbury guard Raven Pentz strikes gold for second time with USA deaf basketball team

Bill San Antonio

As the United States capped a perfect run in the 2015 World Deaf Basketball Championships last month with a 14-point win over Lithuania, guard Raven Pentz found herself in a state of déjà vu.

The soon-to-be SUNY Old Westbury senior put the trophy to her lips, gold medal around her neck, and kissed it for the second-straight year — last year in Turkey, this year in Taiwan.

“It felt surreal. It was such an amazing experience with some of the greatest people I have ever met,” she said in an interview with Old Westbury’s athletics website. “I am grateful that I was able to have this experience.”

A mathematics education major from upstate Wallkill, Pentz was also named to the All-World Deaf Basketball Championships Team for the second time, rounding out America’s title run with five points, nine rebounds, 10 assists and a steal in 36 minutes against Lithuania on July 12.

“Seeing the look on everyone’s face after receiving the gold medal was amazing,” she said. “I was truly humbled by the whole event.”

Pentz broke double figures twice in the tournament, first with an 11-point performance in a 30-point win over Italy on July 7 and again in the team’s 40-point semifinal rout of Greece two days later, with 16 points, three rebounds, four assists and a steal in 26 minutes.

“The [international] game is completely different, but it allowed me to progress as a player both mentally and physically because it forced me to adapt,” she said. “The competition never stopped playing hard, which I admired because you do not see that a lot when a team is down.”

The 5-foot-4 Pentz set career-highs in points (10.3) rebounds (5.4), assists (5.1) and steals (1.9) per game in 25 contests for Old Westbury in 2014-15.

She was second in the Division-III Skyline Conference in three-point percentage (36 percent) and third in three-pointers made (36), and her 1.28 assist-to-turnover ration ranked third in conference.

During the Spring 2015 semester, Pentz was also named to the Old Westbury Athletic Director and Skyline Conference academic honor rolls. 

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