July 1, 2005
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -
Maryland's Crystal Langhorne was recently voted tri-captain of the Under-19 USA Basketball World Championship team by her teammates, USA Basketball announced today. She was elected along with North Carolina's Erlana Larkins and Stanford's Candice Wiggins.
"It means a lot because our team voted for the captains and it's really special that my teammates think I'm a leadership type person," said Langhorne (Willingboro, N.J./Willingboro), who was named ACC Rookie of the Year following her freshman season at the University of Maryland that saw her post 17.2 ppg. and 10.6 rpg. "(as a captain) I'll bring leadership, try to be vocal and help our team get through the tough practices."
The USA recently finished 4-0 and won gold at the 2005 International Sports Invitational in San Diego, Calif. Held June 8-11, U19 teams from the USA, Australia, China and Russia also competed in the tournament. Langhorne paced the USA effort averaging a team best 13.5 ppg. and added 6.0 rpg., while Larkins and Wiggins each accounted for 9.5 ppg.
"The players selected the captains and they selected three very capable individuals, each brings something different to the table for us. All of them have great college experiences," remarked Goestenkors. "Candice at the guard position she is a very vocal leader, she is high energy and she has a great understanding of the game that will be helpful. With Crystal and Erlana down on the block they have tremendous high-low game and they lead by example. Erlana is a very vocal leader, she raises the level of intensity in our practices with her effort. Crystal leads by example and is one of the hardest workers I've ever seen. She also has great poise and all the players feel very comfortable with her. So they each give us a little something different and together I believe they will provide us with tremendous leadership."
The USA squad currently is training in Colorado Springs, Colo., and will train there through July 1. The team will train July 3-6 at American University in Washington, D.C., and July 7-11 in Budapest, Hungary, where it will also play exhibition games on July 9 and July 10 against Hungary's U19 Team. The USA team arrives in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 12 for the July 15-24 FIBA Women's U19 World Championship.
