In addition to Wiggins, named to the 2007 USA Basketball Women’s Pan American Games Team were: Matee Ajavon (Rutgers / Newark, N.J.); Nicky Anosike (Tennessee / Staten Island, N.Y.); Jayne Appel (Stanford / Pleasant Hill, Calif.); Marissa Coleman (Maryland / Cheltenham, Md.); Emily Fox (Minnesota / Highlands Ranch, Colo.); Alexis Hornbuckle (Tennessee / Charleston, W.Va.); Chardé Houston (Connecticut / San Diego, Calif.); Tasha Humphrey (Georgia / Gainesville, Ga.); Erlana Larkins (North Carolina / Riviera Beach, Fla.); Angel McCoughtry (Louisville / Baltimore, Md.); and Mel Thomas (Connecticut / Cincinnati, Ohio).

Under the direction of three-time Olympian and Temple University head coach Dawn Staley, the USA Women’s Pan American Games Team will battle seven other national teams from July 20-24 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I think the committee selected a group that is very versatile and athletic,” Staley said. “We are a very balanced basketball team that can play at a variety of speeds depending on what we need at any given time. Coming in to camp I thought we’d need a lot of time before they gelled, but this group covers a lot of ground very quickly, especially defensively. Offensively they need to work to get to know each other’s tendencies, to define roles and figure out what each players does best.

“This team is very confident. I don’t think they foresee losing, but this isn’t a cake walk. Each team that we play, it’s going to be like the gold medal game. And any team I’m associated with, it’s gold or failure. I have huge expectations for this team and for this group as individuals as well.”

Staley is being assisted by Kathy Delaney-Smith of Harvard University (Mass.) and Bill Gibbons of College of the Holy Cross (Mass.).

The roster features an impressive 10 athletes who have previously competed for USA Basketball. Wiggins, who today returns from Europe to join the team, averaged a team second-best 13.1 ppg. while helping the USA U21 squad tally a perfect 8-0 record to claim the gold medal. Her competition highlights included 30 points versus Australia to open preliminary play on June 29 and 21 points against Hungary on July 1.

Appel, who also is a finalist for the 2007 USA U19 World Championship Team, won gold with the USA U18 National Team at the 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Larkins was a member of the 2006 USA U20 National Team that captured gold in Mexico City, Mexico, at the FIBA Americas U20 Championship.

In 2005, Anosike, Coleman, Larkins and Wiggins captured the gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Championship, and, prior to the U19 Worlds, won the 2005 International Sports Invitational gold medal. Four team members, Coleman, Houston, Larkins and Wiggins, collected gold medals at the 2004 FIBA Americas U18 Championship; and seven have competed in the USA Basketball Women’s Youth Development Festival. Coleman got her start in a USA Basketball uniform at the 2004 Festival; while Ajavon, Hornbuckle, Houston, Humphrey, Thomas and Wiggins all competed in the Festival in 2003.

The USA Pan Am squad will continue training in Washington, D.C, through July 16. On July 10 and 11, the team will practice at 10:00 a.m. at the WNBA’s Washington Mystics Practice Facility at the Verizon Center and at 5:00 p.m. at American University’s Bender Arena. The team will continue to train at AU the next four days, including a practice at 4:00 p.m. on the 12th, and at 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on both July 13, 14. The squad practices at AU at 9:00 a.m. July 15 and closes camp at the Mystics facility July 16 with a 10:00 a.m. session before departing for Brazil later that day.

Pan American Games
The Pan American Games women’s basketball tournament is being contested July 20-24 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and features eight national teams from North, South, Central Americas and the Caribbean.

The U.S., placed in Group B, opens preliminary play against Columbia on July 20, faces Argentina on July 21 and closes the preliminary round against defending Pan American Games gold medalist Cuba on July 22. Semifinals are slated for July 23, and the gold medal will be contested July 24. Also competing in the 2007 Pan Am women’s basketball tournament are Group A teams Brazil, Canada, Jamaica and Mexico.

Started in 1951 for men and 1955 for women, the Pan American Games are held every four years in the year prior to the Olympics and are open only to countries from FIBA Americas. The USA women have won six of 12 gold medals and rolled up a 67-12 record.

USA Basketball Women’s Collegiate Committee
In addition to Donohoe, members of the USA Basketball Women’s Collegiate Committee include: athlete representatives Beth Cunningham (Virginia Commonwealth University), a member of the 1999 USA Pan American Games Team, and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Carla McGhee (WNBA Director of Player Personnel); from the NAIA is Martha Gore-Algernon (University of Mobile); NCAA appointees include Sherri Coale (University of Oklahoma), Jim Foster (Ohio State University), Trina Patterson (University at Albany) and Tara VanDerveer (Stanford University); Mary “Roonie” Scovel (Gulf Coast Community College) represents the NJCAA; and Wendy Larry (Old Dominion University) was appointed to the Committee by the WBCA.