Senior All-American Maya Moore was among the 11 players named to compete for USA Basketball in the WNBA vs. USA Basketball: The Stars at the Sun Game, USA Basketball announced Thursday night. The roster featured a total of six former UConn stars as Sue Bird, Tina Charles, Swin Cash, Renee Montgomery and Diana Taurasi were also named.
The game will be held July 10 at Mohegan Sun Arena (3:30 p.m.; ESPN) The U.S. will hold a training camp July 7-11 with all available members from the USA National Team pool participating.
Tamika Catchings, Candice Dupree, Sylvia Fowles, Angel McCoughtry, and Cappie Pondexter were also named to the U.S. roster Thursday.
“This training camp is the first and only opportunity that I’m going to have the chance to be with the majority of the players that were in the last Olympics that were a part of our core group,’’ USA and UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said. “So whatever amount of time we have, it’s going to be used in the best way that we can. We’ll get a chance to see how they interact with each other. They’ll get a feel for me, and I’ll get a feel for them and we’ll play the game and go from there.
“I’m looking forward to having an opportunity to coach them and to get a feel for them in game situations. So, I’m really excited. Some of them I haven’t seen play yet, and I really haven’t had a chance to see some of the guys that I had coached before. I haven’t had a chance to be around them since they graduated, so all-in-all I think the Stars at the Sun game will be great opportunity for me, and it’s a great opportunity for them as well.’’
Bird was the top vote getter in the on-line fan balloting and was joined on the list of fans’ Top 10 favorites by Cash, Catchings, Parker and Taurasi.
Additional USA National Team members confirmed to attend the training camp next week are Seimone Augustus, Shameka Christon, Lindsey Harding, Asjha Jones, Kara Lawson and Lindsay Whalen. Alana Beard, Candace Parker and Candice Wiggins are injured and will be unable to participate in the camp.
Jayne Appel, who attended the team’s first two training camps but was unable to participate due to injury, Ebony Hoffman and Kia Vaughn will practice alongside the USA National Team with the hope of being added to the squad in the future.
The available USA team members will begin practice July 8 at 5 p.m. at Connecticut College. The team will hold an open practice July 9 at the Mohegan Sun Arena at 2:45 p.m. The U.S. players who do not have to immediately return to their WNBA teams following the July 10 game, will remain to scrimmage the Australia National Team July 11 at 11 a.m. at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The scrimmage is closed to the public.
Rich
