USA - Women's national team to reconvene in Chicago

COLORADO SPRINGS (Olympic Test Event) - Featuring three-time Olympic gold medalist Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks) and two-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Smith (Detroit Shock), members of the 2007-08 USA Basketball Women's National Team are scheduled to train in Chicago April 13-15 in preparation for 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 and Lindsay Whalen (Connecticut Sun) will participate in the Chicago portion of training.

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 train and compete with the USA National Team in Chicago and at 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 practice at Tim Grover's new state of the art facility Attack Athletics at 5:00 p.m. (CDT) on April 13. Practice again tips-off at Attack Athletics on April 14 at 11:00 a.m. (CDT) and at 10:00 a.m. (CDT) on April 15. With the exception of the April 14 practice, which will be open to the media in its entirety, credentialed media will be allowed access for approximately the final 30 minutes of practice. Training sessions normally last approximately two hours.

The April 19-26 Good Luck Beijing Tournament, held at Wukesong Arena, site of the 2008 Olympic basketball competition, features six nations, including 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 the USA's games against Cuba and China, as well as its final game on April 26.

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 is the national governing body responsible for men's and women's basketball in the United States and is responsible for representing the USA in international competitions.

USA Basketball