Cal-Hi Sports State Junior of the Year Katie Lou Samuelson from Mater Dei of Santa Ana will be joined by Sierra Canyon’s Kennedy Burke at this summer’s U17 team from the USA that will play in the U17 World Championship in the Czech Republic. The team will be coached by Archbishop Mitty’s Sue Phillips, who directed many of the same players to the U16 world championship gold medal last summer.
Full release on Monday from USA Basketball follows:
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (May 26, 2014) — After four days of trials that began with 145 players on the court at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the 12-member roster for the 2014 USA Basketball Women’s U17 World Championship Team was announced on Monday morning. The team includes six gold medalists from the 2013 USA Women’s U16 National Team and six players who were selected to their first USA Basketball national team.
“Given the large numbers and the incredible talent at these trials, it was a challenge for the committee to make the decision,” said Carol Callan, USA Basketball women’s national team director and chair of the USA Basketball Women’s Developmental National Team Committee, which is responsible for selecting the players. “However, given that quality of talent, in many ways there was no way we could fail at picking a good team, and we certainly think that we’ve done that. It’s a very versatile team with good size, good speed and quickness and good basketball smarts. So, we are really excited to see how they perform at the world championship.”
Named to the 2014 USA Women’s U17 World Championship Team after helping the USA to win the 2013 FIBA Americas U16 Championship this past summer, which earned the USA its berth into the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship, are 2013 U16 MVP Asia Durr (St. Pius X Catholic H.S./Douglasville, Ga.), as well as DeJanae Boykin (Charles H. Flowers H.S./Springdale, Md.), Lauren Cox (Flower Mound H.S./Flower Mound, Texas), Nancy Mulkey (Cypress Woods H.S./Cypress, Texas), Arike Ogunbowale (Divine Savior Holy Angels H.S./Milwaukee, Wis.) and Katie Lou Samuelson (Mater Dei H.S./Huntington Beach, Calif.).
Playing on their first USA Basketball team in 2014 will be: Kristine Anigwe (Desert Vista H.S./Phoenix, Ariz.), Kennedy Burke (Sierra Canyon School/Northridge, Calif.), Natalie Chou (Plano West Senior H.S./Plano, Texas), Te’a Cooper (McEachern H.S./Powder Springs, Ga.), Joyner Holmes (Cedar Hill H.S./Cedar Hill, Texas) and Anna Wilson (Collegiate School/Richmond, Va.).
Additionally, Sabrina Ionescu (Miramonte H.S./Walnut Creek, Calif.) was named as an alternate.
“I am so excited,” said Sue Phillips (Archbishop Mitty H.S./San Jose Cagers AAU, Calif.), who returns to lead the 2014 USA U17 World Championship Team after having led the USA to a gold medal at the 2013 FIBA Americas U16 Championship. “This group of participants was extremely talented, very coachable and worked so hard. I knew whichever 12 the committee decided on, we were going to have a very competitive team. We’re going to do our best to win the gold medal.”
Also returning from the 2013 USA U16 coaching staff are assistant coaches Mary Coyle Klinger (Rutgers Preparatory School, N.J.) and Brian Robinson (Bishop McGuinness H.S./Stealers AAU, N.C.).
The 2014 USA U17 World Championship Team will reassemble at the USOTC for training camp
June 12-17, before the team departs on June 18 for training and an exhibition tournament in Nogent sur Seine, France, from June 20-22.
From France, the team will travel on June 23 to the Czech Republic for the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship that will be played June 28-July 6.
Looking to capture its third-straight FIBA U17 World Championship gold medal, the USA was placed into Group D, where it will face China on June 28, France on June 29 and Mali on July 1.
Following the preliminary round, all teams will be seeded within their groups and will advance to the Round of 16, which will be played on July 2. Winners of the Round of 16 will advance to the July 4 quarterfinals. The semifinals will be played on July 5, and the gold medal game is set for July 6
