2014-16 USA Basketball Women’s National Team

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Jan. 13, 2014) – Including 14 Olympic and/or FIBA World Championship gold medalists, the 33-player 2014-16 USA Basketball Women’s National Team pool, from which the 2014 USA World Championship Team and, if the U.S. qualifies, the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team will be selected, was announced today. The USA National Team pool will be fluid, and athletes may be added at any time by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee. 

 

Highlighting the returning veterans are three-time Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever) and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury); two-time Olympic gold medalists Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky) and Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks); 2012 Olympic gold medalists Tina Charles (Connecticut Sun), Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream), Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx) and Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx); and Kara Lawson (Connecticut Sun) and Cappie Pondexter (New York Liberty), who were members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. Further, Jayne Appel (San Antonio Silver Stars) and Candice Dupree (Phoenix Mercury), members of the 2010 USA World Championship Team that won gold, have been named to the pool. 

 

Also named to the 2013-16 USA National Team roster were: DeWanna Bonner (Phoenix Mercury), Elena Delle Donne (Chicago Sky), Skylar Diggins (Tulsa Shock), Stefanie Dolson (University of Connecticut), Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury), Lindsey Harding (Los Angeles Sparks), Briann January (Indiana Fever), Glory Johnson (Tulsa Shock), Jantel Lavender (Los Angeles Sparks), Kayla McBride (University of Notre Dame), Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (University of Connecticut), Nnemkadi Ogwumike (Los Angeles Sparks), Danielle Robinson (San Antonio Silver Stars), Odyssey Sims (Baylor University), Breanna Stewart (University of Connecticut), Alyssa Thomas (University of Maryland), Courtney Vandersloot (Chicago Sky), Monica Wright (Minnesota Lynx) and Sophia Young (San Antonio Silver Stars).

 

“I think the game has changed tremendously and we are fortunate that the pool is probably greater than it’s ever been,” said Geno Auriemma, 2013-16 USA National Team and University of Connecticut head coach. “The gap between those that have won gold medals and those that are still playing for the USA Basketball National Team and those that want to be part of it who are younger and have made a name for themselves is narrowing every year. I’m excited that we have so many great players to choose from.

 

“It’s always difficult when you’re trying to put together a team. It doesn’t always come down to picking the 12 best players, putting them on the team and let’s go. I think there are other factors that go into it, and hopefully the committee and the coaches can come up with a team that is capable of winning gold medals and represents the U.S. in the best possible manner. At the same time, part of the goal needs to include preparing for life after some of these great Olympians who have won multiple gold medals. I wish it was as simple as picking the leading scorers and leading rebounders or just picking the most famous players in the WNBA and let’s go get ‘em! But it’s a lot more complicated than that so it will be very difficult.”

 

The USA Basketball Women’s National Team over the next three years will compete in the 2014 FIBA World Championship (Sept. 27 - Oct. 5 in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey), and if the USA qualifies, the 2016 Summer Olympic Games (Aug. 5 - 21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), as well as additional USA training camps and exhibition games.

 

Four prior USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year honorees are listed on the roster, highlighted by three-time honoree Taurasi (2006, 2010, 2012), as well as Augustus (2003), Charles (2009) and Stewart (2011, 2013).

 

The USA National Team pool features 32 athletes who have competed for USA Basketball internationally during some point in their career and 18 members of the 2009-12 USA Basketball Women’s National Team: Appel, Augustus, Bird, Catchings, Charles, Dupree, Fowles, Griner, Harding, Lawson, McCoughtry, Moore, Parker, Pondexter, Taurasi, Vandersloot, Whalen and Young.

 

The pool includes 10 of the last 12 No. 1 picks in the WNBA Draft: Griner (2013), Ogwumike (2012), Moore (2011), Charles (2010), McCoughtry (2009), Parker (2008), Harding (2007), Augustus (2006), Taurasi (2004) and Bird (2002); 13 All-WNBA selections: Augustus, Bird, Catchings, Charles, Delle Donne, Fowles, McCoughtry, Moore, Parker, Pondexter, Taurasi, Whalen and Young; and 19 WNBA All-Stars: Augustus, Bird, Catchings, Charles, Delle Donne, Dupree, Fowles, Griner, Johnson, McCoughtry, Moore, Ogwumike, Parker, Pondexter, Robinson, Taurasi, Vandersloot, Whalen and Young.

 

Five of the six collegiate athletes boast impressive international credentials. Dolson, who was injured in 2013 and unable to try out for the USA World University Games Team, won gold medals at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship and 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship; McBride was on the 2010 U18 squad; Mosqueda-Lewis won gold medals with four teams, including the 2009 USA U16 National, 2010 USA U17 World Championship, 2011 U19 World Championship and 2013 USA World University Games teams; Sims has a pair of gold medals from the 2011 and 2013 USA World University Games teams, earning World University Games co-MVP honors in 2013. While Stewart is the youngest on the roster, she owns the most international experience among the collegians. Stewart captured gold at the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship, listed on the all-tournament team at the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship after leading the U.S. to gold, earned gold and MVP honors at the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship and most recently was named tournament MVP after earning gold at the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship. Additionally, Stewart was the lone high school athlete on the 2011 USA Pan American Games Team.

 

Members of the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee include USA Basketball women’s national team director Carol Callan; WNBA appointees Reneé Brown, WNBA chief of basketball operations and player relations, Dan Hughes, San Antonio Silver Stars head coach and general manager, and Chris Sienko, Connecticut Sun vice president and general manager; and three-time Olympic and two-time FIBA World Championship gold medalist Katie Smith, who played in nearly 200 games for USA Basketball from 1993-2008, and serves as the athlete representative.

 

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 Soviet domination of women’s basketball 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 FIBA World Championship crown as the USA went on to capture five of the next six World Championship titles (1986, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2010). The only other nations to break into the gold medal column at this event are Australia in 2006, and Brazil, which defeated the USA in the 1994 semifinals and went on to take first that year.

 

The USA owns a record eight gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals in FIBA World Championship play, while compiling an all-time 97-21 record at the event. In 2010, the most recent World Championship, the U.S. finished with a perfect 9-0 record and the gold medal.

 

The 16 nations qualified for the 2014 World Championship are host Turkey, which also claimed bronze in the 2013 FIBA Europe Championship; the United States, which earned its berth by claiming the gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games; as well as Angola (gold medalist) and Mozambique (silver medalist) from FIBA Africa; Cuba (gold medalist), Canada (silver medalist) and Brazil (bronze medalist) from FIBA Americas; Japan (gold medalist), South Korea (silver medalist) and China (bronze medalist) from FIBA Asia; Spain (gold medalist), France (silver medalist), Serbia (fourth place), Belarus (fifth place) and Czech Republic (sixth place) from FIBA Europe; and Australia (gold medalist) from FIBA Oceania.

 

The 17th FIBA World Championship format will feature a round-robin competition in preliminary round play with four groups comprised of four teams each. The top finishing teams from each preliminary group advance to the Oct. 3 quarterfinals, while the second- and third-place teams from the preliminary round will compete in the elimination round for the right to play in the quarterfinals. The winners of the quarterfinal games will compete in the Oct. 4 medal semifinals, and the gold and bronze medal games will be contested Oct. 5.

 

USA Basketball

 

Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA Basketball, chaired by Jerry Colangelo, is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men’s and women’s basketball in the United States. As the recognized governing body for basketball in the U.S. by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA sponsored international competitions, as well as for some national competitions.

 

During the 2009-12 quadrennium, 1,273 men and women players and 235 coaches participated in USA Basketball, including USA Basketball teams and trials, and USA Basketball 3x3 FIBA championships.

USA Basketball men’s and women’s teams between 2009-12 compiled an impressive 264-35 win-loss record in FIBA and FIBA Americas competitions, the Pan American Games, the World University Games, the Nike Hoop Summit and in exhibition games.

 

USA teams are the current men’s and women’s champions in the Olympics; men’s and women’s FIBA World Championships (Basketball World Cup); men’s and women’s FIBA U19 and U17 World Championships; men’s and women’s U18 and U16 FIBA Americas Championships; the FIBA 3x3 Women’s World Championship and the FIBA 3x3 Women’s U18 World Championship. USA Basketball also currently ranks No. 1 in all five of FIBA’s world ranking categories, including combined, men’s, women’s, boys and girls. USA Basketball also currently ranks No. 1 in all five of FIBA’s world-ranking categories, including combined, men’s, women’s, boys and girls.

 

For further information about USA Basketball, go to the official Web site of USA Basketball at www.usab.com and connect with us on www.facebook.com/usabasketball, https://twitter.com/usabasketball, http://www.plus.google.com/+usabasketball and http://www.youtube.com/usab.

 

2014-16 USA Basketball Women’s National Team Pool

 

NAME                      POS   HGT    WGT    DOB        TEAM                               COLLEGE                  HOMETOWN

Jayne Appel                        C       6-4       210     05/14/88  San Antonio Silver Stars            Stanford                          Pleasant Hill, CA

Seimone Augustus          G/F     6-0       166     04/30/84  Minnesota Lynx                          Louisiana State              Baton Rouge, LA

Sue Bird                             G       5-9       150     10/16/80  Seattle Storm                             Connecticut                     Syosset, NY

DeWanna Bonner             G/F     6-4       137     08/21/87  Phoenix Mercury                         Auburn                             Fairfield, AL

Tamika Catchings              F       6-1       167     07/21/79  Indiana Fever                              Tennessee                      Duncanville, TX

Tina Charles                      C       6-4       198     12/05/88  Connecticut Sun                         Connecticut                     Jamaica, NY

Elena Delle Donne           G/F     6-5       188     09/05/89  Chicago Sky                                Delaware                         Wilmington, DE

Skylar Diggins                   G       5-9       145     08/02/90  Tulsa Shock                                Notre Dame                     South Bend, IN

Stefanie Dolson                 C       6-5       210     01/08/92  n/a                                              Connecticut                     Port Jervis, NY

Candice Dupree                  F       6-2       175     08/16/84  Phoenix Mercury                         Temple                            Tampa, FL

Sylvia Fowles                     C       6-6       200     10/06/85  Chicago Sky                                Louisiana State              Miami, FL

Brittney Griner                   C       6-8       199     10/18/90  Phoenix Mercury                         Baylor                              Houston, TX

Lindsey Harding                 G       5-8       135     06/12/84  Los Angeles Sparks                   Duke                                Houston, TX

Briann January                   G       5-8       144     01/11/87  Indiana Fever                              Arizona State                  Spokane, WA

Glory Johnson                     F       6-3       170     07/27/90  Tulsa Shock                                Tennessee                      Knoxville, TN

Jantel Lavender                 C       6-4       185     11/12/88  Los Angeles Sparks                   Ohio State                       Cleveland, OH

Kara Lawson                      G       5-9       150     02/14/81  Connecticut Sun                         Tennessee                      Alexandria, VA

Kayla McBride                    G       5-11    166     06/25/92  n/a                                              Notre Dame                     Erie, PA

Angel McCoughtry            G/F     6-1       160     09/10/86  Atlanta Dream                             Louisville                        Baltimore, MD

Maya Moore                       F       6-0       176     06/11/89  Minnesota Lynx                          Connecticut                     Lawrenceville, GA

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis  F       6-0       185     11/03/93  n/a                                              Connecticut                     Anaheim Hills, CA

Nnemkadi Ogwumike         F       6-2       188     07/02/90  Los Angeles Sparks                   Stanford                          Cypress, TX

Candace Parker               F/C     6-4       175     04/19/86  Los Angeles Sparks                   Tennessee                      Naperville, IL

Cappie Pondexter              G       5-9       160     01/07/83  New York Liberty                         Rutgers                           Chicago, IL

Danielle Robinson             G       5-9       125     05/10/89  San Antonio Silver Stars            Oklahoma                        San Jose, CA

Odyssey Sims                    G       5-8       155     07/13/92  n/a                                              Baylor                              Irving, TX

Breanna Stewart              F/C     6-4       175     08/27/94  n/a                                              Connecticut                     North Syracuse, NY

Diana Taurasi                    G       6-0       163     06/11/82  Phoenix Mercury                         Connecticut                     Chino, CA

Alyssa Thomas                   F       6-2       170     04/12/92  n/a                                              Maryland                         Harrisburg, PA

Courtney Vandersloot        G       5-8       145     02/08/89  Chicago Sky                                Gonzaga                          Kent, WA

Lindsay Whalen                 G       5-9       169     05/09/82  Minnesota Lynx                          Minnesota                       Hutchinson, MN

Monica Wright                  G/F     5-10    170     07/15/88  Minnesota Lynx                          Virginia                            Woodbridge, VA

Sophia Young                     F       6-1       165     12/15/83  San Antonio Silver Stars            Baylor                              St. Vincent, West Indies

 

2013-16 USA National Team Head Coach: Geno Auriemma, University of Connecticut