|
– USA Team Hopefuls To Train In Europe, Boston, Australia –
February 23, 2006 • Colorado Springs, Colorado
 |
|
USA head mentor Anne Donovan will get the
USA World Championship Team's training started with three seperate
training camps in March and April.
|
The USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team
will utilize a series of three spring training camps to help prepare for
the 2006 FIBA World Championship and to evaluate an assortment of elite
players who are candidates for the 12-member 2006 USA Women's World Championship
Team. The Americans will play 11 games against top national and professional
club teams from around the globe during its March and April training.
The first camp, to be held
March 2-9, will include three games in Hungary and Poland; while the second
training session will be held March 17-24 and will also feature a trio
of games played in France and Hungary. In the USA's third and final training
camp and competition prior to the start of the 2006 WNBA season, the U.S.
will train in Boston during the NCAA Women's Final Four March 31-April
3 before competing in the Australian-hosted Opals World Challenge April
7-12 against national teams from Australia, China and Chinese Taipei.
"I am excited to get
our training underway," said USA Women's Senior National Team Program
head coach Anne Donovan of the Seattle Storm. "It will be great to
have some solid competition as we evaluate players and lineups, and these
three segments of training will get us off to a good start."
The players invited to participate
by USA Basketball will be announced prior to each training camp. The USA
Basketball Women's Senior National Team Committee, chaired by Reneé
Brown, the WNBA's Chief of Basketball Operations and Player Relations,
will invite a select number of elite players to participate in the different
camps of the 2006 spring training. The spring training will give the coaching
staff and USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team Committee a chance
to evaluate a variety of candidates competing for the 12 roster positions
on the 2006 USA World Championship Team. The Committee will also use a
portion of the WNBA season to further evaluate players.
Following the 2006 WNBA season
the USA will regroup in late August for a final training camp before defending
its World Championship title at the 15th FIBA World Championship, scheduled
to be played Sept. 12-23 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Donovan will be assisted
at the 2006 FIBA World Championship by WNBA Connecticut Sun head coach
Mike Thibault, and collegiate head coaches Gail Goestenkors of Duke University
(N.C.) and Dawn Staley of Temple University (Pa.).
European Tour #1
Opening its training March 2-5 in Sopron, Hungary, the USA will play its
first game against MKB Euroleasing Sopron on March 6. Sopron, which advanced
to the 2006 EuroLeague quarterfinals and is trailing 0-1 in the best of
three quarterfinals series against USVO, features American Nikki Teasley
(Los Angeles Sparks) on its roster.
The USA's final two games will be played in Gdynia, Poland,
against Lotos Gdynia on March 8 and March 9. Advancing to the EuroLeague
playoffs for the fifth consecutive year, Lotos' roster contains a pair
of Yanks, 2005 WNBA Rookie of the Year Temeka Johnson (Washington Mystics)
and Chelsea Newton (Sacramento Monarchs) who as a rookie won the 2005
WNBA title as a member of the Monarchs.
The March games mark the second time the U.S. has faced
Lotos. On March 21, 2004, the USA Senior National Team bested Lotos 86-64
behind 21 points from 2004 Olympic gold medalist Tina Thompson (Houston
Comets), while Tangela Smith (Sacramento Monarchs) was the team's high
rebounder (7) and Sue Bird (Seattle Storm) led in assists (5).
European Tour #2
Following a March 17-19 training camp in Mondeville, France, the U.S.
on March 20 will play USO Mondeville Basket, a team that advanced as far
as the 2006 EuroLeague eighth finals. Mondeville features one American
on its roster, Grace Daley, who led the team in scoring in 2005-06.
Next up on the schedule is a game against a Hungarian All-Star
Team on March 22 in Gyor. Following another day of practice, the USA concludes
its second European training session with a contest against MiZo-Pécs
on March 24 in Pécs, Hungary. The MiZo-Pécs squad, which
has advanced to the 2006 EuroLeague quarterfinals and is 1-0 to start
the best of three series against Lietuvos Telekomas, should be a familiar
opponent for the American team. Featuring WNBA players Vickie Johnson
(New York Liberty) and Dalma Ivanyi (San Antonio Silver Stars), the United
States has played Pécs four times since 1999.
In the first meeting, DeLisha Milton-Jones (Washington Mystics)
poured in 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the field as the U.S. earned
a 79-74 victory on Feb. 6, 1999, in Hungary. On Jan. 31, 2000, the U.S.
bested Pécs 66-60 on its home court with the help of 14 points
from Katie Smith (Detroit Shock). Later that year Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles
Sparks) chalked up a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds as the
USA downed Pécs 66-37 in Philadelphia during the NCAA Women's Final
Four on March 30. Returning to Pécs on March 27, 2004, the United
States again came out on top, 67-59, behind 27 points and 12 rebounds
from Thompson.
Opals World Challenge
Training March 31 - April 4 in Boston, the Americans will take on Australia,
China and Chinese Taipei in the 2006 Opals World Challenge. Featuring
2004 Olympic bronze medalist Australia and 2005 Asia Championship gold
medalist China and bronze medalist Chinese Taipei, the games will be played
April 7-12 with the sites and schedule still to be announced by Basketball
Australia.
U.S. teams have competed in two prior Opals World Challenges.
The historic 1995-96 USA Basketball Women's National Team went 7-0 for
the crown in 1996 and the 2002 USA World Championship Team took the title
with a 4-0 record in 2002.
FIBA World Championship
Having claimed the gold medal in the past two World Championships, behind
the play of 2002 FIBA World Championship MVP Leslie, the United States
captured the ‘02 gold medal, successfully defending it's 1998 World
Championship crown. The U.S. owns a record seven gold medals, one silver
and one bronze at the World Championship, while compiling an 80-20 (.800
winning percentage) record, including a 19-0 winning streak that dates
back to the 1994 bronze medal game.
The World Championship has been contested essentially every
four years since 1953 and the United States captured the first two gold
medals before the beginning of the Soviet domination of women's basketball
was kicked-off at the 1959 World Championship. The former USSR put together
a string of five straight golds (1959, 1964, 1967, 1971, 1975), before
the United States reclaimed gold in 1979. The Soviet Union in 1983 earned
its final World Championship crown as the USA went on to capture four
of the next five World Championships (1986, 1990, 1998, 2002). The only
other nation to break into the gold medal column at this event is Brazil,
which defeated the USA in the 1994 semifinals and went on to take the
top spot that year.
FIBA conducted on Jan. 31 the official draw to determine
the four preliminary round groupings for the 2006 FIBA World Championship,
and the United States was placed in Group C along with China, Nigeria
and Russia. Preliminary round games are scheduled for Sept. 12-14, and
the top three teams from each of the four preliminary round groups will
advance to the second round for the right to advance to the medal round
quarterfinals. In addition to the teams in Group C, placed in Group A
were Argentina, host Brazil, South Korea and Spain; Group B includes Australia,
Canada, Lithuania and Senegal; while Group D consists of Cuba, Czech Republic,
France and Chinese Taipei.
The 15th FIBA World Championship format will feature a round-robin
competition in preliminary round play. The top three teams from each preliminary
group advance to form two second round groups consisting of six teams
each. Each team's results from its preliminary group carries over to the
second round standings and each team will play the other three teams in
the second round group whom they have not faced previously. The top four
teams from those two groups will advance on to the medal round quarterfinals,
the gold and bronze medal games will be played Sept. 23.
2006 will mark Brazil's fourth time hosting the FIBA World
Championship after Rio de Janeiro played host in 1957 and Sao Paulo was
the site for the 1971 and 1983 Worlds. In all, the United States had mixed
success when playing a World Championship in Brazil. The 1957 squad took
home the gold with an 8-1 slate, in 1971 the U.S. finished in eighth place
with a 6-2 record and in 1983 the USA squad again went 6-2, but returned
with the silver medal.
|
