USA Basketball’s 2012 Women’s U17 World Championship Team

After three days of trials the USA Basketball Women’s Developmental National Team Committee today announced the 12-member roster for the 2012 USA Basketball Women’s U17 World Championship Team. 

• Diamond DeShields (Norcross H.S./Norcross, Ga.)
• Kaela Davis (Buford H.S./Suwanee, Ga.)
• Rebecca Greenwell(Owensboro Catholic H.S./Owesnboro, Ky.)
• Linnae Harper (Whitney Young H.S./Chicago, Ill.)
• Erica McCall(Ridgeview H.S./Bakersfield, Calif.)
• Taya Reimer(Hamilton Southeastern H.S./Fishers, Ind.)
• Mercedes Russell (Springfield H.S./Springfield, Ore.)
• Lindsay Allen (St. John’s College H.S., D.C./Bowie, Md.)]
• Oderah Chidom (Bishop O’Dowd H.S./Oakland, Calif.)
• Kai James (William T. Dwyer H.S./West Palm Beach, Fla.
• Brianna Turner(Manvel H.S./Pearland, Texas)
• Jessica Washington(Jenks H.S./Tulsa, Okla.)

From USA Basketball

The USA will look to defend its 2010 inaugural U17 title at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship on Aug. 17-26 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Players eligible for this competition must be U.S. citizens born on or after Jan. 1, 1995.

“We want to pick the best team that can win a gold medal, and we think we’ve done that,” said Carol Callan, USA Basketball Women’s National Team Director and non-voting chair of the Developmental National Team Committee. “From moment one to the last moment of last night’s session, all of the participants were in great shape and they played hard and well together. That makes the committee very pleased, but it also makes the decision more difficult. This is a team that has versatility, as we always are fortunate to have in our country. It has size and it has experience, but it also has two athletes that have emerged in the past year.”

Jill Rankin Schneider (Monterey H.S., Texas) will lead the USA with assistant coaches Gail Hook (Monarch H.S., Colo.) and Letitia Hughley (Mott C.C., Mich.). The trio helped qualify the USA for the U17 Worlds by virtue of their gold-medal finish at the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship.

The USA Women’s U17 World Championship Team will reconvene for training camp May 28 – June 2 at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resorts in Orlando, Fla., and then again at the USOTC on Aug. 1-7 before leaving for Europe.

The USA will compete in an exhibition round-robin tournament in Italy against U17 national teams before arriving in Amsterdam. Traveling to Caorle, Italy, on Aug. 8, the team will practice on Aug. 9 before taking on Brazil at 6:30 p.m. (Caorle is +6 hours from EDT) on Aug. 10. The USA will play Australia at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 11 and then face host Italy at 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 12. The team will practice in Italy on Aug. 13 before departing for Amsterdam on Aug. 14 for two days of training in Amsterdam before the start of the FIBA U17 World Championship.

The USA has been placed in preliminary round Group A and will open against South Korea at 9:15 p.m. (Amsterdam is +6 hours from EDT) on Aug. 17, followed by Canada at 9:15 p.m. on Aug. 18 and Italy at 4:45 p.m. on Aug. 19. After a rest day for all teams on Aug. 20, the USA will take on Belgium at 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 21 and wrap up preliminary round play against Mali at 10 a.m. on Aug. 22.

The top four finishing teams from each preliminary round group will advance to the medal quarterfinals on Aug. 24. Winners of the quarterfinals will compete in the medal semifinals on Aug. 25, and the gold medal game will be played on Aug. 26.