USA Women To Face Argentina, Japan And Russia In FIBA U19 World Championship First Round

March 18, 2011

FIBA conducted today the draw to determine the preliminary round groups for the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship For Women, and the U.S., three-time defending U19 gold medalist, has been drawn into Group B, along with Argentina, Japan and Russia, for preliminary round play. University of Hartford head coach Jennifer Rizzotti will serve as head coach for the U.S. squad at the 2011 U19 Worlds, hosted by Chile from July 21-31 in Puerto Monnt and Puerto Varas.

The 16 national teams qualified for the tournament through their FIBA Zones. The preliminary round will be contested July 21-23 in a round-robin format and the game schedule will be announced by FIBA at a later date. Group A features Canada, China, Egypt and Italy; Groups C includes Australia, host Chile, France and Nigeria; while Brazil, Slovenia, Spain and Taiwan were drawn into Group D.

The top three finishing teams from each preliminary round group will advance to the second round, held July 25-27. The twelve nations qualified for the second round will be divided into groups E and F, with six teams in each group. Each team will play the three new teams in its new group, with the final scores of games played in the preliminary round carrying over to determine the second round standings.

Teams finishing in first through fourth places in the second round will qualify for the quarterfinals, with the opportunity to advance to the semifinals and finals. The quarterfinals will be held on July 29, semifinals are slated for July 30 and the gold medal game will be contested on July 31.

USA Basketball will conduct trials for the 2011 USA U19 World Championship Team May 22-25 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo., with approximately 30 U.S. hopefuls participating. Only U.S. citizens who are 19 years old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1992) are eligible. The USA U19 World Championship Team training camp will be held July 11-15 at the USOTC, before the team travels to Chile for its final preparations.

Invitations to the trials will be issued by the USA Basketball Junior National Team Committee, which will also select the eventual 12-member team. Chaired by NCAA vice president for Division I women’s basketball Sue Donohoe, the committee includes NCAA appointees Joanne Boyle (University of California), Coquese Washington (Penn State University) and Connie Yori (University of Nebraska), and athlete representative Beth Cunningham (1999 USA Pan American Games Team member).

Rizzotti’s assistant coaches for the USA U19 team are collegiate head coaches Sue Semrau of Florida State University and Joi Williams of the University of Central Florida. The trio coached the 2010 USA U18 National Team to a perfect 5-0 slate and the gold medal at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, which earned the U.S. its berth in the 2011 U19 Worlds.

Originally known as the FIBA Junior World Championship, the tournament was held every four years between 1985-2005. FIBA now conducts the U19 World Championship every other year. USA women's teams are 49-11 in the U19/Junior World Championships, most recently capturing a third consecutive gold with an 8-1 record in 2009.

Some of the top players who have represented the United States in past FIBA U19 World Championships include: Angela Aycock (1993); Alana Beard (2001); Essence Carson (2005); Tamika Catchings (1997); Monique Currie (2001); Crystal Langhorne (2005); Erlana Larkins (2005); Jantel Lavender (2007); Lisa Leslie (1989); Rebecca Lobo (1993); Maya Moore (2007); Nnemkadi Ogwumike (2009); Vickie Orr (1985); Courtney Paris (2005); Cappie Pondexter (2001); Katie Smith (1993); Dawn Staley (1989); Ann Strother (2001); Diana Taurasi (2001); Abby Waner (2005); and Candice Wiggins (2005).