UConn star Stewart to train with national team

COLORADO SPRINGS – Featuring 27 athletes, the 2014 USA Basketball Women’s National Team will begin training in defense of the USA’s FIBA World Championship title on Sept. 8 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Additionally, the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee has added a pair of athletes to the 2014-16 USA Basketball Women’s National Team roster in four-time USA Basketball gold medalist Bria Hartley (Washington Mystics) and three-time USA Basketball gold medalist Chiney Ogwumike (Connecticut Sun), and they are scheduled to take part in the fall training camp. The final 12-member, 2014 USA Basketball Women’s World Championship Team will be named prior to the start of the FIBA World Championship, which will be held Sept. 27-Oct. 5 in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey.

Hartley and Ogwumike were extended an invitation to join the USA National Team by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee, which will also select the 2014 USA World Championship Team.

“The 27 who have been invited represent a cross section of what the USA National Team is ultimately all about,” said Geno Auriemma, 2013-16 USA National Team and University of Connecticut head coach. “It’s some of the best players in the world. It’s a combination of past Olympic and World Championship gold medalists. It’s also young players who have also won gold medals at various levels of USA Basketball, pros in the WNBA, college players, veterans and rookies and everything in between. I think we’re going to be able to pick a 12-player roster that’s going to be as good as any team we’ve ever had.

“Coming out of college last year, two of the best players in college basketball, they distinguished themselves over four years playing at the highest level and now they’ve gone onto play in the WNBA as rookies. With Chiney in Connecticut, I’ve had a chance to follow her progress. She’s been absolutely amazing and no one competes harder than Chiney does. Bria’s gone to Washington and played a great role in helping them make the playoffs this year with such a young roster that they have. So, I’m excited about the possibility of having both of them in the camp. I know both of them really wanted to be there last fall and couldn’t, so this is a great opportunity for them and I’m looking forward to seeing them out there.”

 

“Bria Hartley and Chiney Ogwumike were both invited to the USA National Team training camp last fall, but were unable to make it,” said Carol Callan, USA Basketball women’s national team director and member of the committee. “They have remained on the committee’s radar and with their USA Basketball international experience and play this season in the WNBA, the committee felt that we should extend an invitation to continue their involvement with the USA National Team.” 

Athletes invited to participate in the fall training camp in hopes of being named to the 2014 USA World Championship Team include: Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), DeWanna Bonner (Phoenix Mercury), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever), Tina Charles (New York Liberty), Elena Delle Donne (Chicago Sky), Skylar Diggins (Tulsa Shock), Stefanie Dolson (Washington Mystics), Candice Dupree (Phoenix Mercury), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky), Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury), Hartley, Briann January (Indiana Fever), Jantel Lavender (Los Angeles Sparks), Kayla McBride (San Antonio Stars), Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream), Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx), Chiney Ogwumike, Nnemkadi Ogwumike (Los Angeles Sparks), Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks), Danielle Robinson (San Antonio Stars), Odyssey Sims (Tulsa Shock), Breanna Stewart (University of Connecticut), Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), Courtney Vandersloot (Chicago Sky), Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx) and Monica Wright (Minnesota Lynx).

Athletes listed above who are not participating in the WNBA Finals will begin training camp Sept. 8-10 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. WNBA teams still in the playoff hunt include the Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever in the East and Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury in the West.

Hartley first won gold with the 2010 USA U18 National Team at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship, then collected gold medals playing for USA Basketball at the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship, 2012 FIBA 3×3 World Championship and 2013 World University Games. She is a two-time NCAA champion with the University of Connecticut and currently has the Washington Mystics in the WNBA playoff hunt. The No. 7 pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft, Hartley averaged 9.7 points and 3.1 assists in the 2014 WNBA season and aided the Mystics to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Chiney Ogwumike teamed up with Hartley to win gold on the 2010 USA U18 National Team and 2012 USA 3×3 World Championship Team, and she captured her third gold medal at the 2011 World University Games. The No. 1 pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft and 2014 WNBA All-Star averaged 15.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game during the 2014 season and is a two-time (May, June) WNBA Rookie of the Month award winner. The USA National Team training camp roster includes three-time (2004, 2008, 2012) Olympic gold medalists Bird, Catchings and Taurasi; two-time Olympic gold medalists (2008, 2012) Augustus, Fowles and Parker; as well as 2012 Olympic gold medalists Charles, Moore, McCoughtry and Whalen.

Bird and Catchings have won two FIBA World Championship gold medals (2002, 2010); while Charles, Dupree, Fowles, McCoughtry, Moore and Whalen captured FIBA World Championship gold in 2010; and Augustus, Bird, Catchings, Parker and Thompson played on the 2006 USA World Championship Team that returned with the bronze medal.

The USA will compete in a pair of exhibition contests during its domestic training. The first game is the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Showcase, a Red versus White intrasquad game scheduled for Sept. 11 (7 p.m. EDT) at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Delaware.

ESPN2 will televise both USA Basketball Women’s National Team exhibition games, and both games will also available on WatchESPN.

Traveling up the coast to Bridgeport, Connecticut, the USA will train Sept. 14 alongside 2013 FIBA Americas Championship silver medalist Canada in Bridgeport, prior to the two teams squaring off in a Sept. 15 exhibition contest (7 p.m. EDT) at Webster Bank Arena.

Tickets for the USA Basketball Showcase can be purchased through the Bob Carpenter Center box office, by calling 302-831-2257 or online via ticketmaster.com; while tickets for the USA-Canada contest can be purchased through the box office at Webster Bank Arena, by calling 1-800-745-3000 or online via www.websterbankarena.com.

In addition to the domestic exhibition schedule, the USA squad will play four additional exhibition games in Europe against 2012 Olympic silver medalist France, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Australia, 2010 FIBA World Championship silver medalist Czech Republic and 2013 FIBA Asia bronze medalist China, prior to the start of the World Championship.

Finalists for the 2014 USA World Championship Team will compete in the 2014 France International Tournament in the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris, Sept. 19-21. Opening against Australia on Sept. 19, the U.S. will face China on Sept. 20 and close the round-robin tournament against host France on Sept. 21.

From there, the Americans will head to Prague, Czech Republic, for an exhibition against Czech Republic on Sept. 23, before traveling to Istanbul for their final pre-World Championship preparations.

Auriemma will be assisted on the sideline by DePaul University head coach Doug Bruno, Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve and University of South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley.

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.

In addition to Callan, members of the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee include 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.