Thirty-nine elite players accept invites to 2014 USA Basketball Women’s U17 World Championship Team Trials

Thirty-nine players, including all 12 members of the gold-medal winning 2013 USA Basketball Women’s U16 National Team and 19 others with experience from the 2013 USA U16 National Team Trials, have accepted invitations to attend USA Basketball’s 2014 USA Women’s U17 World Championship Team Trials.

The 2014 USA Basketball Women’s U17 World Championship Team Trials will be held May 22-26 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo. The USA Basketball Women’s Developmental National Team Committee issued the invitations. Only athletes born on or after Jan. 1, 1997 are eligible for this team.

“This is an incredibly talented roster of exceptional players, and we expect to have tremendous competition for the 2014 USA Women’s U17 World Championship Team,” said Carol Callan, committee chair and USA Basketball Women’s National Team Director. “There is always great interest from our young athletes, and I know the committee will have a difficult task in narrowing our selections down to just 12 players.”

Returning from the 2013 USA Women’s U16 National Team that earned a perfect 5-0 record and gold medal at the 2013 FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Cancun, Mexico, which qualified the USA for the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship, will be:

• Tournament MVP Asia Durr (St. Pius X Catholic H.S./Douglasville, Ga.)
• DeJanae Boykin (Charles H. Flowers H.S./Springdale, Md.)
• Kalani Brown (Salmen H.S./Slidell, La.)
• Chassity Carter (Dickson County H.S./Dickson, Tenn.)
• Lauren Cox (Flower Mound H.S./Flower Mound, Texas)
• Crystal Dangerfield (Blackman H.S./Murfreesboro, Tenn.)
• Chelsea Dungee (Preston Public School/Okmulgee, Okla.)
• Sabrina Ionescu (Miramonte H.S./Walnut Creek, Calif.)
• Nancy Mulkey (Cypress Woods H.S./Cypress, Texas)
• Taylor Murray (Annapolis Area Christian School/Odenton, Md.)
• Arike Ogunbowale (Divine Savior Holy Angels H.S./Milwaukee, Wis.)
• Katie Lou Samuelson (Mater Dei H.S./Huntington Beach, Calif.)

Also participating in the 2014 USA U17 trials will be

• Tori McCoy (The H.S. of St. Thomas More/Champaign, Ill.), who was named to the 2013 USA U16 National Team before being forced to withdraw due to a concussion
• Erin Boley (Elizabethtown H.S./Hodgenville, Ky.)
• Jaelyn Brown (Vista Murrieta H.S./Murrieta, Calif.)
• Kennedy Burke (Sierra Canyon School/ Northridge, Calif.)
• Amari Carter (St. John’s College H.S./Washington, D.C.)
• Natalie Chou (Plano West Senior H.S./Plano, Texas)
• Te’a Cooper (McEachern H.S./Powder Springs, Ga.)
• Nicole Ekhomu (Joliet Catholic Academy/Bolingbrook, Ill.)
• Kysre Gondrezick (Benton Harbor H.S./Benton Harbor, Mich.)
• Ashley Hearn (Sachse H.S./Rowlett, Texas)
• Joyner Holmes (Cedar Hill H.S./Cedar Hill, Texas)
• Stephanie Jones (Aberdeen H.S./Havre de Grace, Md.)
• Krystaline McCune (duPont Manual H.S./Louisville, Ky.)
• Teniya Page (Marian Catholic H.S./Chicago, Ill.)
• Amber Ramirez (Wagner H.S./San Antonio, Texas)
• Caliya Robinson (McEachern H.S./Marietta, Ga.)
• Kylee Shook (Mesa Ridge H.S./Colorado Springs, Colo.)
• Celeste West (Garces Memorial H.S./Bakersfield, Calif.)
• Anna Wilson (Collegiate School/Richmond, Va.)

Taking part in their first USA Basketball trials will be:

• Kristine Anigwe (Desert Vista H.S./Phoenix, Ariz.)
• Kiah Gillespie (Capital Preparatory Magnet School/Hartford, Conn.)
• Kasiyahna Kushkituah (Saint Francis H.S./Alpharetta, Ga.)
• Calveion Landrum (La Vega H.S./Waco, Texas)
• Leaonna Odom (Mater Dei H.S./Los Alamitos, Calif.)
• Jada Underwood (John Horn H.S./Mesquite, Texas)
• Megan Walker (Monacan H.S./Chesterfield, Va.)
• Jackie Young (Princeton Community H.S./Princeton, Ind.).

The 2014 USA Basketball Women’s U17 World Championship Team will be led by head coach Sue Phillips (Archbishop Mitty H.S./San Jose Cagers AAU, Calif.) and assistant coaches Mary Coyle Klinger (Rutgers Preparatory School, N.J.) and Brian Robinson (Bishop McGuinness H.S./Stealers AAU, N.C.).

In addition to the 39 athletes invited by the committee, USA Basketball also opened trials to applicant athletes. The deadline for applicant athletes was April 11, and the complete roster of players attending trials will be announced later this month.

Due to the large number of players participating in trials, the trials participants will be divided into two groups, and the players are expected to stay in two groups until after the fourth trials session on May 23. Roster reductions will not begin until after the second trials session.

The 12-member roster for the 2014 USA U17 World Championship team is expected to be announced May 26, and the USA Basketball Women’s Developmental National Team Committee will select the team. All players will return home on May 26.

The 2014 USA Women’s U17 World Championship Team will reassemble at the USOTC for training camp June 12-17, before the team departs on June 18 for an exhibition tournament in Nogent sur Seine, France, June 20-22.

From France, the team will travel on June 23 to the Czech Republic for the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship that will be played June 28-July 6. Looking to capture its third-straight FIBA U17 World Championship gold medal, the USA was placed into Group D, where it will face China on June 28, France on June 29 and Mali on July 1. Following the preliminary round, all teams will be seeded within their groups and will advance to the Round of 16, which will be played on July 2. Winners of the Round of 16 will advance to the July 4 quarterfinals. The semifinals will be played on July 5, and the gold medal game is set for July 6.

The trials roster features players from 17 states, including eight from Texas; six from California; four from Georgia; three apiece from Illinois and Maryland; two each from Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia; and one player from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin.

At 6-foot-9, Mulkey is the tallest player on the roster, and at 5-foot-6, Dangerfield and Murray are the shortest. Born on Jan. 29, 1997, Murray is the oldest, while Kushkituah, born on Aug. 16, 1999, is the youngest.

Ogunbowale and Samuelson, in addition to winning gold medals as members of the USA U16 National Team, claimed gold as members of the 2013 USA 3×3 U18 World Championship Team that compiled an 8-1 record to win the FIBA 3×3 U18 World Championship Sept. 26-29 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Samuelson was a finalist for the 2014 Naismith Girls High School Player of the Year, and Durr listed on the Watch List released on Dec. 13, 2013.

Despite their underclassman status, taking home Gatorade State Player of the Year honors were nine players, including Boykin (Maryland), Brown (Louisiana), Dangerfield (Tennessee), Dungee (Oklahoma), Durr (Georgia), Boley (Kentucky), Gillespie (Connecticut), Ogunbowale (Wisconsin) and Samuelson (California).

Additionally, Durr and Samuelson listed on the 2014 USA Today All-USA Girls Basketball first team.

Chaired by Callan, the 2013-16 USA Basketball Women’s Developmental National Team Committee includes NFHS appointees Jody Patrick (Flint Hill School, Va.) and Jill Rankin Schneider (Monterey H.S., Texas.); AAU appointees Bill Larson (North Tartan Basketball AAU, Minn.) and Sherri Pegues (GBL Cal Sparks AAU, Calif.); and athlete representative Yolanda Griffith, a 2000 and 2004 Olympic gold medalist who has played on five USA Basketball teams.