2016 USA Basketball Women’s National Team to host Australia, Canada, France in four-team exhibition tournament
The USA Basketball Women’s National Team will host Australia, Canada and France in a four-team, three-stop tournament July 27-31 in Newark, Delaware, Bridgeport, Connecticut and New York. The event is sponsored by Verizon.
USA Basketball Pre-Olympic Schedule
| July 24-26 | Â USA Basketball Training TBA | ||
| July 27 | 5 pm 7:30 pm |
Australia – Canada USA – France |
Bob Carpenter Center, University of Delaware |
| July 28 | 12 pm | USA Practice | TBD |
| July 29 | 4:30 pm 7 pm |
Australia – France USA – Canada |
Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut |
| July 30 | 11 am | USA Practice | NY Liberty Practice Facility, Tarrytown, New York |
| July 31 | 1:30 pm 4 pm |
Canada – France USA – Australia |
Madison Square Garden, New York, New York |
| Aug. 2 | TBD | USA Practice | TBD, Houston, Texas |
| The 2016 Olympic Games will be held Aug. 5-21 in Rio de Janeiro. | |||
Rosters
USA
| NO | NAME | POS | HGT | Team/Club | |
| 4 | Lindsay Whalen | G | 5-9 | Minnesota Lynx | |
| 5 | Seimone Augustus | G/F | 6-0 | Minnesota Lynx | |
| 6 | Sue Bird | G | 5-9 | Seattle Storm | |
| 7 | Maya Moore | F | 6-0 | Minnesota Lynx | |
| 8 | Angel McCoughtry | G/F | 6-1 | Atlanta Dream | |
| 9 | Breanna Stewart | F/C | 6-4 | Seattle Storm | |
| 10 | Tamika Catchings | F | 6-1 | Indiana Fever | |
| 11 | Elena Delle Donne | G/F | 6-5 | Chicago Sky | |
| 12 | Diana Taurasi | G | 6-0 | Phoenix Mercury | |
| 13 | Sylvia Fowles | C | 6-6 | Minnesota Lynx | |
| 14 | Tina Charles | C | 6-4 | New York Liberty | |
| 15 | Brittney Griner | C | 6-8 | Phoenix Mercury | |
Head Coach: Geno Auriemma
Assistants: Doug Bruno, Cheryl Reeve and Dawn Staley
France
| NO | NAME | POS | HGT | Â Team/Club | |||
| 4 | Isabelle Yacoubou | C | 6-5 | Schio (Italy) | |||
| 5 | Endy Miyem | C | 6-2 | Koursk (Russa) | |||
| 7 | Sandrine Gruda | C | 6-5 | Ekaterinbourg (Russia) | |||
| 9 | Céline Dumerc | G | 5-7 | Bourges | |||
| 10 | Sarah Michel | F | 5-11 | Lattes Montpellier | |||
| 11 | Valériane Ayayi | F | 6-0 | Lattes Montpellier | |||
| 12 | Gaëlle Skrela | F | 5-10 | Lattes Montpellier | |||
| 16 | Héléna Ciak | C | 6-6 | Bourges | |||
| 17 | Marine Johannes | F | 5-10 | Mondeville | |||
| 18 | Marielle Amant | C | 6-3 | Villeneuve d’Ascq | |||
| 19 | Olivia Epoupa | G | 5-5 | Toulouse | |||
| 21 | Laëtitia Kamba | C | 6-2 | Villeneuve d’Ascq | |||
Head Coach: Valérie Garnier
Assistants : Grégory Halin and Olivier Lafargue
Australia
| NO | NAME | POS | HGT | Â Team/Club | |||
| 9 | Natalie Burton | C | 6-5 | Perth Lynx | |||
| 8 | Elizabeth Cambage | C | 6-8 | Shanghai Baoshan Dahua | |||
| 12 | Katie-Rae Ebzery | G | 5-10 | Dynamo Moscow | |||
| 15 | Cayla George | CF | 6-4 | UNIQA Sopron | |||
| 11 | Laura Hodges | F | 6-3 | Bourges | |||
| 10 | Rachel Jarry | F | 6-1 | Lattes Montpellier | |||
| 4 | Tessa Lavey | G | 5-8 | Perth Lynx | |||
| 5 | Leilani Mitchell | G | Â 5-5 | Â Adelaide Lightning | |||
| 13 | Erin Phillips | G | 5-8 | Dallas Wings | |||
| 6 | Stephanie Talbot | Â G | 6-1 | Â Canberra Capitals | |||
| 7 | Penny Taylor | F | 6-1 | Phoenix Mercury | |||
| 14 | Marianna Tolo | C | 6-5 | Canberra Capitals | |||
Head Coach: Brendan Joyce
Canada
| Â NO | NAME | HGT | POS | Team/Club | |
| 11 | Natalie | Achonwa | 6-3 | F | Indiana Fever (WNBA) |
| 9 | Miranda | Ayim | 6-3 | F | Bsket Landes (France) |
| 10 | Nirra | Fields | 5-7 | G | UCLA/Phoenix Mercury (WNBA) |
| Kim | Gaucher | 6-1 | G | Mondeville (France) | |
| Miah-Marie | Langlois | 5-8 | G | Enisey Krasnoyarski (Russia) | |
| 12 | Lizanne | Murphy | 6-1 | F | Angers (France) |
| 5 | Kia | Nurse | 6-0 | G | University of Connecticut (NCAA) |
| 14 | Katherine | Plouffe | 6-3 | F | Nantes Reze (France) |
| 15 | Michelle | Plouffe | 6-3 | F | Mondeville (France) |
| 7 | Nayo | Raincock-Ekunwe | 6-2 | F | Bendigo Spirit (Australia) |
| Tamara | Tatham | 6-1 | F | Dynamo-Guvd Novosibirsk (Russia) | |
| 6 | Shona | Thorburn | 5-9 | G | Nantes Reze (France) |
Head Coach: Lisa Thomaidis
Assistant Coaches: Steve Baur, Shawnee Harle and Bev Smith
From USA Basketball:
Featuring the world’s second-ranked team Australia, 2015 FIBA Americas Championship gold medalist Canada and 2012 Olympic silver medalist France, the USA Basketball Showcase tips-off at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center with a 5 p.m. (all times listed are local, EDT) start on July 27 for Australia-Canada, followed by a 7:30 p.m. clash between the USA and France. The July 29 games feature a 4:30 p.m. start at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport between Australia and France, while the USA takes on Canada at 7 p.m. On the tournament’s final day at Madison Square Garden, Canada and France tip-off at 1:30 p.m., while the USA and Australia will begin play at 4 p.m.
From there, the U.S. team will travel to Houston for United States Olympic Team processing and a final practice on Aug. 2, prior to traveling to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Tickets for the USA Basketball Showcase exhibition games will go on sale to the general public starting June 13. For ticket information visit USAB.COM/SHOWCASE.
“This tournament with Australia, Canada and France, three of the top teams in the world, is an incredible opportunity for our team to prepare for Rio,” said USA and University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma, who has directed the USA National Team to an overall 23-0 record and gold medals at the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Championships. “I think each of these games will be competitive and be a really, really good preview of what you’ll see in August at the Olympics. Two years ago we were able to play games at Delaware and Bridgeport, and the fan support at both of those games was tremendous. Then when you add Madison Square Garden into the mix, what better way to give our team a final send-off before Rio? I’m excited about getting our team together, we haven’t had a chance to practice yet with just these 12 players, but they’ve all played together and I think they will show the fans something special in each of these three games.”
Five-time defending Olympic gold medalists, the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team features three-time gold medalists and tri-captains Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever) and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury); two-time Olympic gold medalists Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx) and Sylvia Fowles (Minnesota Lynx); and 2012 Olympic gold medalists Tina Charles (New York Liberty), Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream), Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx) and Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx). Competing in their first Olympic Games are Elena Delle Donne (Chicago Sky), Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury) and Breanna Stewart (University of Connecticut).
