University of Maryland Athletics

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Maryland women's basketball center Lynetta Kizer is one of 14 finalists for the 2011 USA Women's World University Games Team, USA Basketball announced Wednesday.

35 top collegiate athletes participated in the trials, which were held May 22-25 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

"I thought the committee did a great job," said World University head coach Bill Fennelly (Iowa State). "When you have 35 extremely talented kids, as coaches we were like, 'wow, this is a tough job,' but I thought they did a great job. It's a good balance of players. All of them can bring a lot to this team and we can put together a really, really good club that will give us a chance to win a gold medal."

Kizer, who was named to the 2011 All-ACC Second Team, and 2011 ACC Player of the Year Shenise Johnson are the ACC's finalists.

"I was really excited to hear my name called with the caliber of girls that are out here. I know they worked hard and to have my name called was really just a weight lifted," Kizer said. "Everybody put their best effort out these past couple of days, so to hear my name called and to know the work I put in the past couple of days was good to hear."

Still in the hunt for one of the final 12 spots on the 2011 USA World University Games Team are: Elena Delle Donne (Delaware/Wilmington, Del.); Skylar Diggins (Notre Dame/South Bend, Ind.); Jacki Gemelos (USC/Stockton, Calif.); Keisha Hampton (DePaul/Philadelphia, Pa.); Glory Johnson (Tennessee/Knoxville, Tenn.); Shenise Johnson (Miami/Henrietta, N.Y.); Natalie Novosel (Notre Dame/Lexington, Ky.); Chiney Ogwumike (Stanford/Cypress, Texas); Nnemkadi Ogwumike (Stanford/Cypress, Texas); Devereaux Peters (Notre Dame/Chicago, Ill.); Odyssey Sims (Baylor/Irving, Texas); Shekinna Stricklen (Tennessee/Morrilton, Ark.); and April Sykes (Rutgers/Starkville, Miss.).

The eventual 12-member team will look to defend the USA's 2009 gold medal at the 2011 World University Games women's basketball competition August 14-21 in Shenzhen, China.

Athletes will return home and USA team training will resume at the USOTC July 31-Aug. 8, prior to the team's departure for Shenzhen, China, and the 2011 World University Games.

Kizer helped the USA earned its 2009 U19 World Championship berth with a gold medal finish at the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, which was played in Argentina. In the last Youth Development Festival organized by USA Basketball in 2007, Kizer helped lead the USA White Team to a 3-0 record and gold-medal finish.