USA Basketball

Week in Review

WNBL

Kristi Harrower

Australia’s WNBL kicked off their 30th season this week in Bulleen, north of Melbourne. Kristi Harrower of the Los Angeles Sparks signed to play with the Bendigo Bank Spirit. So far, she has short-term contract. The team had to raise money to fund her salary. Shortly after arriving from Los Angeles, she led Bendigo in a win over the Dandenong Jayco Rangers with a 23 point effort.

Former WNBA player Margo Twigg (known more by her maiden Dydek) and sister Marta are signed to play on the same team, the Logan Thunder. Margo is the tallest active women’s professional basketball player at 7′2". She holds the record for most blocks in a WNBA career, with 877 blocks in 323 games. Her sister Marta is 6′6" and played for the University of Texas-El Paso.

WNBA Awards

With less than a week before the end of…

Top high school hoopsters compete at FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women

The USA Women’s U16 National Team landed in Mexico City yesterday for the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship. The tournament is a qualifier for the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship scheduled for July 16-25 in France.

The team plays its first game Aug. 10 against the Dominican Republic, followed by Puerto Rico on Aug. 11 and Argentina on Aug. 12. The top two finishing teams in each preliminary round group will advance to the semifinals on Aug. 13.

A draw placed the USA in Group B along with Argentina, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Group A includes Canada, Brazil, Guatemala and host country Mexico

The bottom two teams from each group will play for 5th through 8th places. The gold medal game will be played Friday, Aug. 14.

The 2009 USA U16 National Team includes:

• Jordan Adams (Mater Dei H.S./Irvine, Calif.)
• Cierra Burdick (Butler H.S./Mathews, N.C.)
• Bashaara Graves

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Preliminary round scores from the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women in Thailand

July 23
Preliminary Round

• France 89 Korea 47
• Japan 85 Tunisia 64
• Australia 75 Argentina 51
• Russia 54 Canada 46
• Spain 90 USA 86
• Brazil 104 Thailand 45
• Czech Republic 84 Lithuania 72
• China 86 Mali 60

The USA take on China today.

Follow the action online

• FIBA U19 World Championship for Women official site
• USA Basketball
• Canada Basketball

Teresa Edwards named to 2009 U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame Class

The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) named five-time Olympian and four-time gold medalist Teresa Edwards as a member of the  2009 class to be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame presented by Allstate.

Teresa’s statement on being inducted:

For me, it’s the highest of highs because I’ve always looked at the Olympics as being the best that you could possibly get for women’s basketball. For me, it’s the most important honor ever. To be in the company of Muhammad Ali and Wilma Rudolph, that’s huge. It’s kind of like, pinch me, because I still can’t believe it.

There’s too many memories from the Olympics to pick just one. I think the greatest has always been my first. You can never top the first time. Even though I did return, you can never top that feeling of everything being so wonderful and being the first time. I think

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Nation’s top women’s college players invited to 2009 USA Women’s World University Games Team Trials

USA Basketball invited 29 women’s college players to try out for the 12-member  2009 USA Women’s World University Games Roster.

Trials will take place May 14-17 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The selected finalists will return to Colorado Springs on June 18 for training camp. The 12-member roster will be announced prior to June 25.  The 2009 women’s basketball competition will be July 1-11 in Belgrade, Serbia. Eligible athletes for the USA team must be currently enrolled in a college or university and have remaining NCAA athletic eligibility.

The USA team will be coached by Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne. Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant and Pepperdine head coach Julie Rousseau will be assistants.

The Trials Roster includes:

1. Danielle Adams (Jefferson College / Kansas City, Mo.)
2. Jayne Appel (Stanford / Kansas City, Mo.)
3. Jessica Breland (North Carolina / Kelford, N.C.)

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