Taj McWilliams-Franlin's addition to the USA's Good Luck Beijing Tournament will solidfy the team's inside game.

-- NBA TV To Televise Three U.S. Contests At 2008 Olympic Test Event --

Beijing, China • April 19, 2008

USA Basketball Women’s National Team member Taj McWilliams-Franklin (Los Angeles Sparks) will join the U.S. squad in Beijing in time for the opening game against Australia in the 2008 Good Luck Beijing Tournament, USA Basketball announced today. Additionally, NBA TV, which will air the USA’s April 20, 24 and 26 games live, will rebroadcast the three contests at 4:00 p.m. (ET) on those days as well.

“It’s going to be great to have Taj join us,” said USA head coach Anne Donovan. “We’ve got a lot of solid post players and this will give us even more solidity in the post. Her experience, the fact that she’s a little bit older, it’ll be nice to see her work with the rest of the post players.

“Our goal here is to get better everyday, to be competitive and continue to improve each game. We’re definitely going to have to play good basketball to come out of here with the six wins that we want to. There are some good teams here competing and it’s going to be tough but if we continue to improve day by day, we’ll achieve our goal.”

McWilliams-Franklin, whose Israeli professional team was knocked out of the Israel league playoffs on April 17, joins 2007-08 USA Basketball Women’s National Team members Swin Cash (Seattle Storm), Sylvia Fowles (Louisiana State University), Lindsey Harding (Minnesota Lynx), Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks), Courtney Paris (University of Oklahoma), Katie Smith (Detroit Shock) and Candice Wiggins (Stanford University). Kara Lawson (Sacramento Monarchs), who got married on April 12, will join the squad on the heels of her honeymoon in time for the April 21 contest against South Korea.

Additionally, recently drafted USA Basketball veterans and former University of Maryland teammates Laura Harper (Sacramento Monarchs) and Crystal Langhorne (Washington Mystics) are competing with the USA National Team in the 2008 Good Luck Beijing Tournament.

The April 19-26 Good Luck Beijing Tournament, held at Wukesong Arena, site of the 2008 Olympic basketball competition, features six nations, including 2006 World Champion Australia, host China, Cuba, New Zealand and South Korea. The tournament will feature a single round-robin preliminary round with games played on April 19, 20, 21, 23 and 24. Teams will then be seeded for the April 26 finals based on records from the round-robin preliminary round with the top two squads facing off in the gold medal game.

The U.S. opens the tournament against Australia on April 19 (4:45 a.m. EDT) before facing Cuba on April 20 (2:30 a.m. EDT) and South Korea on April 21 (2:30 a.m. EDT). Following a day off, the USA will meet New Zealand on April 23 (10:15 a.m. EDT) and closes preliminary play against host China on April 24 (8:00 a.m. EDT).

On April 26 FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, will host the 2008 Olympic draw (5:30 a.m. EDT) at the Wukesong Arena between the bronze (3:15 a.m. EDT) and gold medal (8:00 a.m EDT) games.

NBA TV will televise live the USA’s games against Cuba and China, as well as its final game on April 26, and will re-air each of those games at 4:00 p.m. (ET) the afternoon of the games.

Donovan is being assisted on the sidelines by collegiate head coaches Gail Goestenkors of the University of Texas and Temple University’s Dawn Staley. USA assistant coach Mike Thibault (Connecticut Sun) aided in the team’s pre-Beijing training camp but was unable to join the team in China due to his WNBA coaching duties.

The 2007-08 USA Basketball Women’s National Team currently features a total of 29 athletes on its roster, which was selected by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Committee, chaired by USA Basketball vice president for senior women Reneé Brown, WNBA chief of basketball operations and player relations. It is expected that the 12-member 2008 U.S. Olympic Team will come from the USA National Team roster.

USA Basketball is the national governing body responsible for men’s and women’s basketball in the United States and is responsible for representing the USA in international competitions.

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