WASHINGTON, D.C. - One day after her Maryland teammates Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper won a gold medal with the USA U21 World Championship team, Marissa Coleman will get her opportunity to compete for a gold medal, clinching a roster spot on the USA Pan American Team, USA Basketball announced today.

Three more cuts where made after a few days of training in Washington, D.C. The Pan Am team, under the direction of three-time Olympian Dawn Staley, will compete July 20-24. The Americans will depart for Rio de Janiero, Brazil, after they complete another week of practices and scrimmages in several venues around Washington, D.C.

Marissa Coleman (Cheltenham, Md./St. John's College [D.C.]), who is entering her junior year at Maryland in the fall, was named one of 15 finalists in late May after a three day team trial in Colorado Springs, Colo. Coleman has extensive experience playing for the USA. In the summer of 2005, she collected gold medals with the U19 team at the FIBA U19 World Championship and the International Sports Festival. She won another gold in 2004 at the Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament.

The US has been placed in Group B and opens preliminary play against Columbia on July 20. On July 21, the team faces Argentina, followed by Cuba, who won gold at the previous Pan Am Games, on July 22. The semifinals are slated for July 23 and the gold medal contest takes place July 24. Competing in Group A are teams Brazil, Canada, Jamaica and Mexico.

The tournament can be followed at www.rio2007.org.br. Information on the US team, visit www.usabasketball.com.

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