USA Women's Pan American Games Team Continues Training With Scrimmage

Oct. 16, 2011 • Houston, Texas

Sunday was a busy day for the 2011 USA Women's Pan American Games Team on their second day of training camp, including a morning practice session, team processing, where the U.S. Olympic Committee gave the players their Team USA gear, and an evening practice during which the team scrimmaged against a squad of Rice University men's students.

In addition to the logistics of offense, defense, travel and apparel, there is the business of molding a team in just six days. The USA's first Pan American Games contest is against Argentina on Friday, Oct. 21.

Following the team's scrimmage, USABasketball.com caught up with one of the squad's juniors, Kevi Luper (Oral Roberts/Adair, Okla.), as well as senior April Sykes (Rutgers/Starkville, Miss.), to hear their thoughts on training camp thus far. Also, watch video of UC Santa Barbara senior Emilie Johnson (Loomis, Calif.) showing off some of her gear from team processing.

Kevi Luper
(Oral Roberts/Adair, Okla.)
How do you think the team played in tonight's scrimmage?
I feel like we played pretty well. We have only had two practices, and we've had to get a lot into those two practices -- like inbounds plays and offenses and learning how to play defense the way coach wants us to. I feel like we came out and played pretty well. There are always ways you can improve, especially our defensive intensity.

What is it like trying to build a team in such a short time period?
It's really not that hard because I feel like we all play basketball a high level and we should be able to come together and play. We have good chemistry already, and it's only going to get better from here.

What do you think of your first USA Basketball experience?
I love the experience. I'm just grateful for the opportunity. I love all of the free gear we got, I love playing with players of this caliber and the coaches are awesome. So, it's a great experience.

What does it mean to you to play for your country?
It means a lot to me -- representing the country in a basketball tournament, playing the sport that I love. It's probably one of the best things I've done in my basketball career so far.

April Sykes
(Rutgers/Starkville, Miss.)
How do you think the team played in tonight's scrimmage?
I think we did pretty well seeing as we haven't played with each other before. We still need to make some adjustments, especially on defense.

I think our play says a lot about the colleges and programs that we all come from, that we can learn quickly and grasp things in a short period of time, knowing that we have our first game on Friday.

Do you think the team has improved with each practice?
Yes. It's not easy playing with new people that you've never played with before. I only knew of Breanna (Stewart) from USA trials and Valencia (McFarland) because we are both from Mississippi, so it's a big challenge. As a unit, we are all learning to work with one another and our coaches. Every practice we get better.

Do you think the team has started to develop some chemistry?
Of course. No one has an ego or attitude. Everyone has a great personality, so we get along very well. Myself, I will talk to anybody, so that's not an issue at all.