USA – USA girls roster announced ahead of U17 World Championship

COLORADO SPRINGS (FIBA U17 World Championship for Women) - USA Basketball on Friday announced their official 12-member roster for the Women's U17 World Championship in France, including nine athletes who helped the USA earn its FIBA U17 World Championship berth with a gold medal in the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women

The selections were made by the USA Basketball Women's Developmental National Team Committee, following three days of trials June 8-10 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

"I'm very excited about my 12-person roster," said Barbara Nelson, USA U17 and Wingate University head coach. "We have a lot of kids that have international experience, which is great, especially since we open up with France, the host team. It's great that we have a lot of girls that have experience, but the two new players, I think bring another element that maybe we didn't have, and that's exciting, too.

"We are awfully big and awfully tall, and I think that's very important in the international game," Nelson continued. "I think that's a very important piece that we have, and we'll have to really play on that. I think our threes, fours and fives are probably the best threes, fours and fives in the world, not just the nation. I think our biggest piece will be where's our ball handling, where's our outside shooting, and that's what the next couple of days will be all about."

Returning from the last year's FIBA Americas U16 Championship winning team are MVP Elizabeth Williams and the USA's leading scorer Kaleena Lewis, Jordan Adams, Cierra Burdick, Bashaara Graves, Betnijah Laney, Ariel Massengale, Breanna Stewart and Alexyz Vaioletama.

Also included in the team are Bria Smith, Imani Stafford, and Morgan Tuck.

The inaugural FIBA U17 World Championship will be held in Toulouse and Rodez, France from 16th-25th July. The USA open their campaign against hosts France in Rodez on 16th July.