Twelve athletes added to USA Basketball Women's National Team
USA Basketball March 03, 2010
Photo: David Dow / NBAE / Getty Images
(L-R): Candice Wiggins, Renee Montgomery and Shameka Christon have all helped USA Basketball capture gold medals and were named to the 2010-12 USA National Team today.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 3, 2010) -- Twelve internationally experienced players, including one Olympic gold medalist, have been added to the 2010-12 USA Basketball Women's National Team roster, USA Basketball today announced. The 12 athletes bring the pool of players from which the 2010 USA World Championship Team and, should the USA qualify, the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team will be selected to 20.
All 12 athletes have prior USA Basketball experience and include Alana Beard (Washington Mystics), Swin Cash (Seattle Storm), Tina Charles (University of Connecticut), Shameka Christon (New York Liberty), Candice Dupree (Chicago Sky), Lindsey Harding (Washington Mystics), Asjha Jones (Connecticut Sun), Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream), Renee Montgomery (Connecticut Sun), Maya Moore (University of Connecticut), Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx) and Candice Wiggins (Minnesota Lynx). Player selections were made by the five member USA Basketball Women's National Team Player Selection Committee.
"I'm excited because it's a great mixture of veterans, young players, players who are versatile enough to give us an awful lot of options as to how we want to play," said Geno Auriemma, USA National Team and University of Connecticut head coach. "Certainly we take into consideration winning and all of these players are winners. They've been on winning programs all their lives. I'm anxious to get to work with them and anxious to mix them in with the group that was announced earlier. I'm thrilled with the make-up of the group. We have the best players in the world and this is just another example of how deep the pool is that the U.S. can draw from.
"The first group is obviously so experienced and so used to winning, having been in the Olympics and having won a gold medal. This next group represents an opportunity for us, not only to continue to build a stronger USA National Team for this coming World Championship and beyond, but it will help us identify who that next core group may be going forward."
The athletes join previously announced USA National Team members and two-time Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever) and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury); as well as '08 gold medalists Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky), Kara Lawson (Connecticut Sun), Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks) and Cappie Pondexter (Phoenix Mercury).
As was the case over the last quadrennium, the USA team will be fluid and athletes will be added progressively to the USA National Team roster. It is expected that the official 12-member 2010 USA World Championship Team and 2012 U.S. Olympic Team, should the USA qualify, will be comprised of players from the 2010-12 USA National Team.
Among the additions are two USA Basketball honorees. Charles and Wiggins were the 2009 and 2007 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year, respectively, after helping U.S. teams earn two gold medals each. Charles in 2009 collected gold with the USA World University Games Team and earned her second gold of the year as the only collegian on the USA National Team in the UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational. Wiggins in 2007 helped USA teams earn gold at the FIBA U21 World Championship and Pan American Games and was an alternate on the USA National Team that competed in the FIBA Americas Championship.
Including the 2004 Olympic gold medal earned by Cash and the 2006 FIBA World Championship bronze medal earned by Beard, the 12 additions to the USA National Team boast of a combined 32 gold medals, three silver medals and three bronze medals. Some of those gold medals include the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship (Cash); FIBA U21 World Championship (Beard, Whalen - 2003 / Wiggins - 2007); FIBA U19 World Championship (Wiggins - 2005 / Moore - 2007); 2007 Pan American Games (McCoughtry, Wiggins); FIBA Americas U20 Championship (Christon, Whalen - 2002 / Montgomery - 2006); and the FIBA Americas U18 Championship (Beard - 2000 / Wiggins - 2004 / Charles, Moore - 2006).
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