North Carolina State University Athletics
USA Basketball to Hold Open Practice in Reynolds
8/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
NC State’s historic Reynolds Coliseum will host the 2006 USA Basketball Women’s World Championship Team on Wednesday, Aug. 30, at 6:30 p.m. The practice is open and free of charge to the public. The USA team will use the practice in preparation for its exhibition contest to be played at Duke’s Cameron Indoor on Thursday, Sept. 7. What will be the first of three practices in the triangle area, USA Basketball will spend one hour, 30 minutes on NC State's main court during the open practice and will then sign autographs.
Ticket prices for the exhibition game range from $7-$25 and group sales are also available. Fans may purchase tickets by logging onto goduke.com, calling 877375Duke or stopping by the Duke Athletic Ticket Office from 8:30-4:30 p.m. (all times local EDT) Monday through Friday.
“USA Basketball is excited once again to train and compete in the Raleigh/Durham area,” said USA Basketball President Val Ackerman. “Duke was an excellent host to our 19992000 USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team and we are happy to return to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the Sept. 7 clash with Australia. In addition to the game, which should be a great competition for the area's basketball fans to watch, USA Basketball has partnered with the women's basketball programs at Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State, all three of which have a strong history with USA Basketball, in hosting open practices for local fans. We appreciate the warm welcome Raleigh-Durham is extending to us and look forward to a productive training camp before the team heads to Brazil.”
“Getting started in North Carolina means we’re just that much closer to the World Championship and that makes me very excited,” said USA and Seattle Storm head coach Anne Donovan. “It seems like such a long way away with so much of the WNBA season yet to be played. But when I think of the World Championship and that training period and the incredibly talented team that we have, I get very excited.
“The game against Australia, that’s one of the teams we’ll be contending with in the medal run, so fans will get to see the Australian team and our team coming together before the Worlds. It will be a very competitive game, as it always is when we play against Australia. In the open practices the fans will also get to see these elite players at their best, which is in practice, working hard, gelling together and being on the court at the same time. It’s going to be very competitive, our practices are as competitive as any game so it should be very fun to watch.”
The training in North Carolina will be a homecoming for former Duke standout Alana Beard (Washington Mystics), who on Aug. 1 was named to the 2006 USA World Championship Team.
The U.S. will begin training at 10:00 a.m. at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium on Aug. 29, and will train there daily at 10:00 a.m. through Sept. 6. In addition to those practice sessions, which are open to credentialed media only, the USA squad will host three practices that are free and open to the public. On Aug. 30, the squad can be seen starting at 6:30 p.m. at North Carolina State’s Reynolds Coliseum, the Aug. 31 open practice also tips at 6:00 p.m. and will be held at North Carolina’s Carmichael Auditorium, while the USA’s Sept. 3 open practice will begin at 5:00 p.m. at Cameron.
Capping the USA’s 10 days of 2006 FIBA World Championship preparations in the Raleigh-Durham area is a clash between two of the top teams in the world as the USA Basketball Women’s Senior National Team is hosting Australia’s national team on Sept. 7 at 7:00 p.m. at Cameron.
In addition to Beard, listed on the USA World Championship roster are three-time Olympic gold medalists Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks) and Sheryl Swoopes (Houston Comets), two-time Olympic gold medalists Yolanda Griffith (Sacramento Monarchs) and Katie Smith (Detroit Shock), 2000 Olympic gold medalist DeLisha Milton-Jones (Washington Mystics), and 2004 Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever) Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury) and Tina Thompson (Houston Comets), as well as 2003 U21 World Championship gold medalist Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx).
The United States is looking at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, hosted by Brazil Sept. 12-23, to continue building upon the success it’s experienced over the last decade in the international arena. Since the 1996 Olympic Games the USA Basketball Women’s Senior National Team has posted five consecutive gold medals at the Olympics and FIBA World Championships. Not only have the American women finished on the top of the podium, they have posted an unblemished 42-0 record, an unparalleled streak over the past decade among U.S. women’s traditional team sports. Additionally, the United States is No. 1 in the world in every age group after also claiming gold at the 2005 FIBA U19 World Championship and 2003 FIBA U21 World Championship.
The Donovan-led U.S. squad will seek to defend its World Championship title at the 15th FIBA World Championship. Behind the play of 2002 FIBA World Championship MVP Leslie, as well as Bird, Catchings, Milton-Jones, Smith and Swoopes, the United States captured the ‘02 gold medal, successfully defending it’s 1998 World Championship crown.
The U.S. owns a record seven gold medals, one silver and one bronze at the World Championship, while compiling an 80-20 (.800 winning percentage) record, including a 19-0 winning streak that dates back to the 1994 bronze medal game.
The USA Basketball Women’s Senior National Team Committee, chaired by WNBA Chief of Basketball Operations and Player Relations Reneé Brown, selected the USA team’s coaches and players and is continuing to evaluate players for the final roster position, which will be announced later this summer.
Donovan will be assisted on the sidelines by Connecticut Sun head coach Mike Thibault and collegiate head coaches Gail Goestenkors of Duke University (N.C.) and Dawn Staley of Temple University (Pa.).
To find out more about the FIBA World Championship go to the next page.
