May 14, 2007
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Maryland' Marissa Coleman, Laura Harper and Crystal Langhorne are among the 45 elite women's basketball players who have accepted invitations to participate in the 2007 USA Basketball women's national team trials, to be held May 17-20 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The invitations were issued by the USA Basketball Women's Collegiate Committee, and the committee is expected to announce finalists for the USA U21 World Championship Team and the USA Pan American Games team on May 20.
Sophomore Marissa Coleman (Cheltenham, Md./St. John's College [D.C.]), and juniors Laura Harper (Elkins Park, Pa./Cheltenham) and Crystal Langhorne (Willingboro, N.J./Willingboro) each bring with them previous experience with USA Basketball. In 2005, Langhorne was the FIBA U19 World Championship Most Valuable Player, after leading the Americans to a gold medal at the tournament, along with Coleman. Langhorne went on to earn USA Basketball's Female Athlete of the Year honor that same year and was also a tri-captain of the team.
During Coleman's senior year of high school, she was a teammate of Harper's on the 2004 Junior World Championship team, which won gold in Mayaguez, P.R., and qualified for the 2005 U19 FIBA World Championship.
The 2007 FIBA U21 World Championship will be held June 29-July 8 in Moscow, Russia. The USA is looking to defend its title. The finalists will reconvene in Colorado Springs on June 12 to begin training for the tournament, and the eventual 12-member squad will be announced prior to departing for Europe on June 16. The United States was placed in the Group B in the 12-nation tournament, along with Australia, Brazil, Hungary, Japan and Spain. Group A includes Belgium, Canada, China, Mali, France and Russia.
The Pan American Games women's basketball tournament will be held July 20-24 in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, and features eight national teams from the FIBA Americas. The Pan Am team finalists will be announced following the trials and the team will reconvene in Washington, D.C. The final 12-member team will be announced prior to the team's departure for Brazil on July 16.
The tryouts feature an opening session on May 17, beginning at 6:30 p.m. MDT, followed by two-a-days May 18-19. The selections for the finalists are expected to be announced following a morning session on May 20.
The U19 team trials are also being held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center May 17-20, but will be held separately from the U21/Pan Am team trials. Incoming Terrapins Drey Mingo (Atlanta, Ga./Marist) and Marah Strickland (Mt. Airy, Md./Towson Catholic) are among the invitees.
For more information, log onto www.usabasketball.com.
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