STANFORD, Calif. – Five-time WNBA All-Star and three-time Stanford All-American Nneka Ogwumike has been named to the 2018 USA Basketball Women's World Cup Team.
Two-time defending gold medalists, the USA will compete in this year's FIBA World Cup, formerly the FIBA World Championship, from Sept. 22-30 in Tenerife, Spain. The USA opens play in preliminary round Group D against Senegal at 10 a.m. PT on Sept. 22, followed by China at 10 a.m. PT on Sept. 23 and Latvia at 10 a.m. PT on Sept. 25. All three of the USA's preliminary games will be televised on ESPN+, while the quarterfinals and semifinals will be on one of the ESPN channels to be determined and the finals will be carried by ESPN.
Ogwumike won a FIBA World Cup gold medal with the United States in Istanbul, Turkey in 2014, averaging 7.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in 16.5 minutes per game. She had her best performance at that event in a meeting with Angola, scoring 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting and grabbing 10 rebounds as the United States won by a record 75 points (119-44).
The 2016 WNBA MVP, Ogwumike recently concluded her seventh professional season with the Los Angeles Sparks in which she averaged 15.5 points on 52.5 percent shooting, 6.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists. She earned her fifth All-Star nod, but was unable to participate in the WNBA's summer showcase due to illness.
Ogwumike will join current Cardinal senior Alanna Smith in Spain. The 6-foot-4 Smith was named to Australia's roster for the FIBA World Cup in late August and has been with the team since for camp and exhibitions in France, Turkey and Tenerife. Smith will be the sixth Stanford player to appear in a FIBA World Cup, joining Americans Jayne Appel (2010), Jennifer Azzi (1990, 1994, 1998), Sonja Henning (1990) and Ogwumike (2014) along with Enjoli Izidor, who played for Nigeria in 2006.
The USA began training on Sept. 3 in Columbia, South Carolina and had been winnowing down its roster ever since following a domestic camp and exhibitions in Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Antibes, France and scrimmages on the ground in Tenerife.