USA - 21 players selected for women’s national team

COLORADO SPRINGS (FIBA Americas Championship for Women) – With an eye towards continued adaptability to the changing women’s basketball environment and building upon the success of the USA Basketball Women’s Senior National Team program, USA Basketball today announced the 21-member 2007-08 USA Women’s Senior National Team. This group of seasoned veterans and rising stars, headlined by three-time Olympic gold medalist Sheryl Swoopes (Houston Comets) and two-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Smith (Detroit Shock), will train together over the next two years as the U.S. attempts at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games and then defend its three consecutive Olympic gold medal winning streak. It is expected that players selected to compete on USA Senior National teams in the 2007 and 2008 international competitions will come from the USA Basketball Senior National Team pool.

In addition to Smith and Swoopes, included on the USA’s deep and talent-stocked roster are: Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Alana Beard (Washington Mystics), Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Swin Cash (Detroit Shock), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever), Jessica Davenport (Ohio State University), Katie Douglas (Connecticut Sun), Cheryl Ford (Detroit Shock), Sylvia Fowles (Louisiana State University), Taj McWilliams-Franklin (Los Angeles Sparks), DeLisha Milton-Jones (Washington Mystics), Deanna Nolan (Detroit Shock), Courtney Paris (University of Oklahoma), Candace Parker (University of Tennessee), Cappie Pondexter (Phoenix Mercury), Michelle Snow (Houston Comets), Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), Tina Thompson (Houston Comets) and Lindsay Whalen (Connecticut Sun).

The USA’s next chance to qualify for the 2008 Olympics will be at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, slated for Sept. 25-29 in Valdivia, Chile. The gold medalist at that tournament will earn a berth to the Beijing Olympic 12-nation field. In addition to the USA, teams participating in the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship will be Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Jamaica and Mexico. Should the United States not return home from Chile with the gold medal, there will be one final chance to qualify for the Olympics at the 2008 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament slated for June 9-15 at a site to be determined.

The complete USA Women’s Senior National Team training plans, which will include domestic and international training camps and competition through 2008, will be announced at a later date.

Heading the USA Basketball Women’s Senior National Team through 2008 is WNBA Seattle Storm head coach and four-time U.S. Olympic Team member Anne Donovan, who was on the 1980, 1984 and 1988 squads as a player and was an assistant coach for the 2004 team. She will be assisted by 2006 WNBA Coach of the Year Mike Thibault of the Connecticut Sun and collegiate head coaches Gail Goestenkors of Duke University (N.C.) and Temple University’s (Pa.) Dawn Staley.

"The parity at the top level of the women’s international game is at an all-time high, and we recognize that our national team program needs to be adaptable in order to put the U.S. in the best possible position to re-claim the gold medal in Beijing and beyond," said USA Basketball President Val Ackerman. "By including a larger number of players in the program, we hope to create a more competitive training environment for the team, as well as accelerate the development of the young players who we will count on to continue our winning tradition in the future."

"The Committee feels very strongly about this group of players as we continue to move forward with our USA Senior National Team Program," said Committee chair Reneé Brown , WNBA chief of basketball operations and player relations. "We are not just looking to the next two years and our goal of reclaiming the gold medal in Beijing, we also have identified some of the top young candidates who will take the torch from our veteran leadership, from players like Sheryl, Katie and Tina, and run with it well into the future. The Committee feels that this is a very strong mix of players, from the young up-and-comers to international veterans. If you look back, that’s what USA Basketball has been doing for decades -- the torch has been passed from Pat Summitt and Anne Donovan to Teresa Edwards and Katrina McClain. They have lent their leadership to Lisa (Leslie), Sheryl and Dawn, who are in the process of passing it along to our next generation of players."

"I think continuity is so important in the development of the USA Senior National Team," said Donovan. "Although we don’t have the benefits of extensive training as in the past, we are looking to maximize the time that we are together. By identifying a pool of players we’ll be able to train extensively and evaluate the best fit for our National Team. The more that our staff and our players are able to train and play together, the better our USA National Team will be, come competition time.

"When you look at the make-up of this group, we have a lot of youth. What a benefit it is for them to be able to train with our veteran players, to learn from them on the court and off the court."

USA Basketball