Thirty-three players have accepted invitations to the 2017 USA Basketball Women’s U19 World Cup Team Trials, USA Basketball announced on Wednesday.
Tyasha Harris, who started 27 games for the national champion South Carolina Gamecocks, along with UConn’s Crystal Dangerfield headline a list of invitees that includes 24 with prior USA Basketball experience. Dangerfield’s future teammate in Storrs and Gatorade National Player of the Year, Megan Walker, was invited as well.
In addition to Walker and Harris, invitees Jeannie Boehm (Harvard), Chennedy Carter (Timberview HS), Sidney Cooks (Saint Joseph HS), Dana Evans (West Side HS), Ruthy Hebard (Oregon), and Evina Westbrook (South Salem HS) were all members of the 2016 U18 National Team.
The coach of that team, Pittsburgh’s Suzie McConnell-Serio, will lead the U19 squad alongside assistants Kamie Ethridge (Northern Colorado) and Charlotte Smith (Elon).
In a release, selection committee chair and George Washington head coach Jen Rizzotti said:
"“This is a very versatile group that will give the coaching staff a lot of options. They are all tough competitors, and it is not going to be easy for us to pare it down to the final 12-member team. The committee feels we will be able to select from this group a team that will represent the USA well on and off the court, and these athletes have what it takes to win a seventh-straight gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Cup.”"
The U19 team has won six consecutive gold medals and will compete for a seventh from July 22-30 in Cividale del Friuli and Udine, Italy.
Team trials will take place at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, May 18-21.