USA Basketball

2004 Olympic gold medalist Diana Taurasi is among the 22 players who could compete against Australia in the USA's two exhibition games this fall.

USA Basketball today announced a second exhibition contest between the 2007-08 USA Basketball Women’s Senior National Team and Australia. The top two ranked teams in the world will meet on Sept. 19 at the Mohegan Sun arena in Uncasville, Conn. The exhibition between 2004 Olympic gold medalist USA and 2006 World Champion Australia is slated to tip-off at 7:00 p.m. EDT.

Prior to the Sept. 19 exhibition game, the USA team will gather in New York for a Sept. 7-12 training camp at John Jay College and then move to Philadelphia to train through Sept. 15 at Temple University. The USA and Australia are also scheduled to meet in an exhibition game at 1:00 p.m. on Sept. 16 in Trenton, N.J., at the Sovereign Bank Arena.

Tickets for the USA versus Australia exhibition contest are priced at $8, $16, $20, $25, $30, $50 and $100. Group discounts are also available by contacting the Mohegan Sun Arena Box Office. Tickets will go on sale to the public on Monday, July 30, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) and will be available at the Mohegan Sun Arena box office. Ticketmaster customers may log on to ticketmaster.com, call any Ticketmaster Charge By Phone number, or visit any Ticketmaster outlet.

"Connecticut is a Mecca for women's basketball," said USA and Seattle Storm head coach Anne Donovan, a three-time Olympian as a player and an assistant coach with the gold medalist 2004 U.S. Olympic team. " The fans there are rabid and it's a great place to showcase the best that the USA and Australia have to offer. It'll be fun for the UConn fans also. Watching players like Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi competing on the same team again should give those die-hard fans a great show."

"Mohegan Sun and the Connecticut Sun are extremely proud to host a game that will feature two of the best teams in the world, with both teams comprised of many of the world's best players," said USA National Team assistant coach and Connecticut Sun head coach Mike Thibault. "The Connecticut Sun is scheduled to have two of our players (Katie Douglas and Lindsay Whalen) competing for a spot on the USA team. In addition, Connecticut fans have been among the most supportive of women's basketball in the entire country, so I am sure we can expect to see a packed house for this game. With several former UConn players such as Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, and Swin Cash also competing for roster spots, the fans will have a lot of their favorite players to come out and cheer for. We are all looking forward to being a part of this great event."

The U.S. team for the Sept. 19 exhibition contest will be comprised of members of the 2007-08 USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team, which lists 22 players including eight Olympic gold medalists, six World Championship gold medalists and all 12 members of the bronze medalist 2006 USA World Championship Team.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Sheryl Swoopes (Houston Comets) and two-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Smith (Detroit Shock) were joined on the 2004 Athens Olympic gold medal podium by Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Swin Cash (Detroit Shock), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever), Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury) and Tina Thompson (Houston Comets); while DeLisha Milton-Jones (Washington Mystics) is a 2000 Olympic gold medalist. Additionally, Bird (2002), Catchings (2002), Taj McWilliams-Franklin (Los Angeles Sparks / 1998), Milton-Jones (1998, 2002), Smith (1998, 2002) and Swoopes (2002) all won golds at the FIBA World Championship; and Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Alana Beard (Washington Mystics), Bird, Cash, Catchings, Cheryl Ford (Detroit Shock), Candace Parker (University of Tennessee), Smith, Michelle Snow (Houston Comets), Swoopes, Taurasi and Thompson were all on the 2006 USA World Championship Team.

In addition to the previously named Olympians and World Championship participants, members of the 2007-08 USA Senior National Team include: Jessica Davenport (New York Liberty), Katie Douglas (Connecticut Sun), Sylvia Fowles (Louisiana State University), Lindsey Harding (Minnesota Lynx), Deanna Nolan (Detroit Shock), Courtney Paris (University of Oklahoma), Cappie Pondexter (Phoenix Mercury), and Lindsay Whalen (Connecticut Sun).

Following the WNBA season, the USA Women's National Team will reconvene Sept. 7 in New York to begin preparing for the FIBA Americas Championship 2007. Slated for Sept. 26-30 in Valdivia, Chile, not only is a gold medal on the line, but the winner also will receive a berth in the 2008 Olympics. In addition to the USA, teams participating in the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship will be Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Jamaica and Mexico. Should the United States not return home from Chile with the gold medal, there will be one final chance to qualify for the Olympics at the 2008 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament slated for June 9-15 at a site TBD.

Donovan is being assisted by 2006 WNBA Coach of the Year Thibault and collegiate head coaches Gail Goestenkors of the University of Texas and Dawn Staley of Temple University.

Most recently, April 11-17, members of the USA team posted a 4-0 slate on its 2007 Tour of Italy against the Italian National Team, a pair of professional club teams and a Pomezia All-Star squad. Catchings finished as the team's leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 12.8 ppg. and 9.0 rpg., while Fowles added 10.3 ppg. and 7.0 rpg. and McWilliams-Franklin contributed 9.5 ppg. and 6.8 rpg.

Upcoming International Competitions
Before setting its sights on defending its Olympic title, the U.S. must first qualify for the 2008 Beijing Games. Host China and 2006 FIBA World Championship gold medalist Australia have earned automatic berths to the 2008 Olympic women’s basketball tournament. South Korea, which won the gold medal at the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship secured the third Olympic slot and four additional teams will punch their ticket to Beijing at their 2007 FIBA zone championships, as the gold medalists in each of the FIBA zones (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania) qualify to compete in Beijing.

Teams finishing in second, third and fourth place at the 2007 FIBA Americas tournament will have one final chance to earn a spot in Beijing’s 12-nation field at the 2008 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Those three nations along with nine other national teams from around the globe who did not claim gold at the remaining FIBA zones, including two from Africa (silver and bronze medalists), two from Asia (bronze medalist Japan and fourth place finisher Taiwan [because China took silver, the fourth place finisher advances]), four from Europe (second through fourth place finishers) and one from Oceania (silver medalist), will compete for the final five Olympic slots at the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.