USA - Women’s National Team set to play in Good Luck Beijing Tournament

BEIJING (Olympic Test event) - Featuring three-time Olympic gold medalist Lisa Leslie and two-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Smith (Detroit Shock), members of the 2007-08 USA Basketball Women’s National Team are scheduled to compete in the April 19-26 Good Luck Beijing Tournament.

In addition to Leslie and Smith, USA Basketball Women’s National Team members slated to attend the Chicago training and Olympic test event in Beijing include: Swin Cash (Seattle Storm), Sylvia Fowles (Louisiana State University), Lindsey Harding (Minnesota Lynx), Courtney Paris (University of Oklahoma), and Candice Wiggins (Stanford University). Further, Kara Lawson (Sacramento Monarchs) will join the team in Beijing. Additionally, recently drafted USA Basketball veterans and former University of Maryland teammates Crystal Langhorne (Washington Mystics) and Laura Harper (Sacramento Monarchs), each of whom won at least two gold medals for USA Basketball during their collegiate careers, will compete with the USA National Team in the 2008 Good Luck Beijing Tournament.

“I’m excited to have Lisa Leslie back on the court with us again. It will be great to pair her with several players who made the trip to Spain like Kate Smith, Swin Cash and Lindsey Harding, as well as several of the younger college players,” said 2008 U.S. Olympic Team head coach Anne Donovan. “Sylvia Fowles, Candice Wiggins and Courtney Paris have all had valuable experience training with us in the past, but this will be their first opportunity to work with Lisa. This test event will be another tremendous challenge for us to continue the development of our USA team, and I look forward to working with all these very talented players.”

The USA National Team, which owns a 21-0 overall slate since beginning training in 2007, will take part in the April 19-26 Good Luck Beijing Tournament, held at Wukesong Arena, site of the 2008 Olympic basketball competition. Featuring six nations, the Good Luck Beijing Tournament field includes 2006 World Champion Australia, host China, Cuba, New Zealand and South Korea. The tournament will feature a single round-robin preliminary round with games played on April 19, 20, 21, 23 and 24. Teams will then be seeded for the April 26 finals based on records from the round-robin preliminary round with the top two squads facing off in the gold medal game.

The U.S. opens the tournament against Australia on April 19 (4:45 a.m. EDT) before facing Cuba on April 20 (2:30 a.m. EDT) and South Korea on April 21 (2:30 a.m. EDT). Following a day off, the USA will meet New Zealand on April 23 (10:15 a.m. EDT) and closes preliminary play against host China on April 24 (8:00 a.m. EDT).

On April 26 FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, will host the 2008 Olympic draw (5:30 a.m. EDT) at the Wukesong Arena between the bronze (3:15 a.m. EDT) and gold medal (8:00 a.m EDT) games.

NBA TV will televise live three to the USA’s games, including its games against Cuba on April 20 at 2:30 a.m. (EDT), the USA-China game on April 24 at 8:00 a.m. (EDT), as well as the Americans’ final game on Saturday April 26 (game opponent and time TBD). Additionally, the games will be rebroadcast by NBA TV. The USA-Cuba game will be reshown on April 20 at 4:00 p.m. (EDT), the USA-China game will be aired again on April 24 at 4 p.m. (EDT) and the USA’s final game on April 26 will be rebroadcast at 4:00 p.m. (EDT).

Donovan is being assisted on the sidelines by Connecticut Sun head coach Mike Thibault, as well as collegiate head coaches Gail Goestenkors of the University of Texas and Temple University’s Dawn Staley.

The 2007-08 USA Basketball Women’s National Team features a total of 29 athletes on its roster, which was selected by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Committee, chaired by USA Basketball vice president for senior women Reneé Brown, WNBA chief of basketball operations and player relations. It is expected that the 12-member 2008 U.S. Olympic Team will come from the USA National Team roster. 

USA Basketball