Pair of Aces know Vegas likes winner

IT has been said that college prepares one for what lies after it, a notion that must make Kayla Mcbride and Moriah Jefferson chuckle, chortle and guffaw.

Mcbride was the leading scorer last season for the WNBA’S San Antonio Stars, who have since moved to

Las Vegas and become Aces. Jefferson was the Stars’ starting point guard.

In college, each played in four Final Fours — Mcbride for Notre Dame, Jefferson for mighty Connecticut. Jefferson was 2-0 against Mcbride, who was two years ahead of her on the big stage. The Huskies beat the Fighting Irish 83-65 in the 2013 national semifinals and 79-58 in the 2014 national championship game.

They were roommates with the Stars during Jefferson’s rookie WNBA season. “She pulled out a national KANTOWSKI

is the best outcome I could ever ask for and it’s been such a long journey. Ahhh, just going home with the gold is amazing.”

So is her riding.

Competing in front of her extended family, a group that included her Korean-born parents and her South Korean grandmother, Kim put on a show that delivered on her considerable pre-olympic hype. She put together a 93.75 during her first run, one that included just one 1080, not the two that have become her trademark. No matter. The perfection-flirting third run provided a cathartic exclamation point.

“I knew that I did put down a really good first run, but I was also like, ‘I can do better than that. I can one-up myself,’” Kim said.

Liu Jiayu took silver with an 89.75 to become the first Chinese snowboarder to medal at the Olympics. Gold, who pondered retirement last summer, overcame a dislocated shoulder suffered during training to edge teammate and three-time

Olympic medalist Kelly Clark for third.

Kim’s parents were born in South Korea and moved to the United States, putting their daughter in an interesting position heading into her first Olympics.

While she understands the urge to build a narrative around her that turns her into a connective tissue of sorts between the host country and the one she calls home, it’s one she has politely sidestepped. She views herself as just a kid from Torrance, California, who likes music, the mall and ice cream.

Kim would have made the Olympic team with ease four years ago, but the calendar got in the way. She was 13 at the time, too young to make the trip to Russia.

Standing atop the hill at calm and brilliant Phoenix Snow Park, Kim looked down at a crowd that included her parents, three sisters, three aunts, two cousins and her grandmother

Moon Jung ae and proceeded to waste little time while turning the final into a global coming-out party.

She drilled her opening set, throwing in a 1080 — basically, three twists high above the pipe — before following it with a pair of flips (or “corks”). Kim celebrated at the end, pumping her fists as “USA! USA!” chants rained down. When her score flashed, she clasped her hands atop her head and drank in the moment.

Kim’s teammates made serious bids to give the Americans only their fourth-ever Olympic podium sweep.

Gold, who dislocated her right shoulder during training for the Sochi Olympics and didn’t compete, then barely made the 12-woman final, brushed off a fall during her first run and stomped an 85.75 on her third run. Clark, the 2002 Olympic champion still going strong at age

34, couldn’t quite catch gold with an 83.50.