Next Stop For 2010 USA Women’s World Championship Team: Hartford, Conn.

Sept. 8, 2010 • Colorado Springs, Colo.

Following four days of practice in the Washington, D.C., area, finalists for the 2010 USA Basketball Women’s National Team move up the coast to Hartford, Conn., for its final four days of domestic training and will host a pair of exhibition contests against Australia and Spain.

The U.S. team will train on Sept. 9 at 10:00 a.m. at the XL Center before taking on defending world champion Australia in an exhibition game on Sept. 10 at 7:30 p.m.  The U.S. will practice at 10:00 a.m. on Sept. 11 at the XL Center and will cap its domestic training with a friendly against Spain, the No. 5-ranked women’s program in the world, at 1:00 p.m. on Sept. 12.

Tickets for the Sept. 10 and Sept. 12 USA exhibition games are on sale now online at www.ticketmaster.com, through Ticketmaster charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000 and in person at the XL Center box office. Ticket prices range from $75, $50, $30, $20 and $10 respectively, and additional fees may apply.   
Practices are open to credentialed media only and media will be allowed to view approximately the final 30 minutes of each practice.

“I’m sure the atmosphere will be great at this weekend’s games,” said USA and University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma. “The atmosphere, because it’s Connecticut, there’s a couple Connecticut guys playing, because there’s three of the best teams in the world, will be great. It’ll be a little bit different for those fans who are used to seeing UConn just walk out there and run through the opposition. This will be a little bit different. It’s going to be a real treat for them to see some of the best players in the world, to see some of the best teams in the world. Because they’re such great fans and they appreciate their basketball, the Australian and Spanish teams are going to be really pleasantly surprised at the reception that they’re going to get.”

Expected to participate in the Sept. 9-12 training camp are: Jayne Appel (San Antonio Silver Stars), Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Tina Charles (Connecticut Sun), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever), Candice Dupree (Phoenix Mercury), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky), Lindsey Harding (Washington Mystics), Ebony Hoffman (Indiana Fever), Asjha Jones (Connecticut Sun), Kara Lawson (Connecticut Sun), Renee Montgomery (Connecticut Sun), Maya Moore (University of Connecticut), Cappie Pondexter (New York Liberty), Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury) and Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx).
Additional USA National Team players currently competing in the WNBA Finals will join the squad upon the conclusion of their season. The Seattle Storm, with

Sue Bird and Swin Cash of the Seattle Storm advanced to the WNBA Finals and will face Eastern Conference champs Angel McCoughtry and USA assistant coach Marynell Meadors and the Atlanta Dream in the 2010 WNBA Finals.

In addition to the USA exhibition games, the University of Hartford will play host to an exhibition between Australia and Spain on Sept. 11 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets for the Australia – Spain exhibition game are $10 and can also be purchased through Ticketmaster.

Traveling to Salamanca, Spain, the USA National Team will face Australia a second time, on Sept. 17 (time TBD) in the first game of the 2010 Spain International Invitational. Spain will tip-off against Senegal in the second game of the day and the winners will meet on Sept. 18 (times TBD) for the championship, while the losing teams will play for third place.

The U.S. will get one final warm-up before the start of the 2010 FIBA World Championship when it faces host Czech Republic in a scrimmage in Brno on Sept. 20 (time TBD).

The 12-member 2010 USA World Championship Team will be selected from the 24-member USA National Team pool. The make-up of the USA National Team during its exhibition contests will be partly dependent upon who is competing in the WNBA playoffs and the official 12-woman USA roster that will compete in the 2010 FIBA World Championship must be submitted to FIBA at the technical meeting that normally is held the day prior to the start of the competition.

Assisting Auriemma and the USA National Team through the 2010 FIBA World Championship are DePaul University head coach Doug Bruno, Los Angeles Sparks head coach Jennifer Gillom and Atlanta Dream head coach / general manager Meadors.

The U.S. will look to capture the title at the 2010 FIBA World Championship that will be held Sept. 23 – Oct. 3 in Brno, Karlovy Vary and Ostrava, Czech Republic, with the gold medal winner earning a berth to the 2012 Olympic Games.

Should the U.S. not finish with the gold medal in ‘10, it would have two additional chances to qualify for the Olympics: the 2011 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament (dates and site TBD) and 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament (dates and site TBD).

In the past dozen years, the highly successful USA Basketball Women’s National Team program, ranked No. 1 in the world by FIBA, has posted a 63-1 slate in major international competitions, winning four consecutive Olympic gold medals (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008), two FIBA World Championship gold medals (1998, 2002), one FIBA World Championship bronze medal (2006) and one FIBA Americas Championship gold medal (2007).

FIBA World Championship
The FIBA 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 nations to break into the gold medal column at this event are Australia, the defending world champion, and Brazil, which defeated the USA in the 1994 semifinals and went on to take the top spot that year.

The USA owns a record seven gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals in FIBA World Championship play, while compiling an all-time 88-21 record at the event. In 2006, the most recent World Championship, the U.S. fell 75-68 to Russia in the semifinals, but rebounded to take host Brazil 99-59 in the bronze medal game and finish with an 8-1 record. Australia earned the gold after defeating Russia 91-74 in the final contest.

USA Basketball Women's World Championship Team Finalists