May 31, 2006
Stanford's Jillian Harmon has been named a finalist for the 2006 USA FIBA Americas U20 Championship Team, as announced by the USA Basketball Women's Collegiate Committee. The 38-player field, which included four players from Stanford's 2006-07 roster, was narrowed to 18 athletes after three days of trials at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Harmon, a Lake Oswego, Ore. native, started 25 games for the Cardinal in 2005-06, and averaged 8.5 points and 5.5 rebounds. She led the team in rebounding in 11 games, including the Elite Eight match-up with LSU, and finished the season as Stanford's fourth-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder. The 6-1 forward was also the third-straight Cardinal player to be named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team.
Along with Harmon, the other 17 finalists include Jolene Anderson (Wisconsin / Port Wing, Wis.); DeWanna Bonner (Auburn / Fairfield, Ala.); Essence Carson (Rutgers / Paterson, N.J.) ; Alexis Gray-Lawson (California / Oakland, Calif.); Devanei Hampton (California / Oakland, Calif.); Erlana Larkins (North Carolina / Riviera Beach, Fla.); Camille LeNoir (Southern California / Los Angeles, Calif.) Victoria Lucas-Perry (Michigan State / Flint, Mich.); Renee Montgomery (Connecticut / St. Albans, W.Va.); Marscilla Packer (Ohio State / Pickerington, Ohio); Ashley Paris (Oklahoma / Piedmont, Calif.); Courtney Paris (Oklahoma / Piedmont, Calif.); Kia Vaughn (Rutgers / Bronx, N.Y.); Ashley Walker (California / Modesto, Calif.); Erica White (Louisiana State / Jacksonville, Fla.); Khadijah Whittington (North Carolina State / Roanoke, Va.) and Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton (Purdue / Naperville, Ill.).
The head coach of the squad will be Joanne P. McCallie from Michigan State. She will be assisted by California's Joanne Boyle and Furman University's Sam Dixon.
"We've got some terrific opportunities in the post, and we always want to use our post players effectively," said McCallie. "We've got some creative players, and I think we've got a team with good chemistry. I think that they are a nice group of women who aren't afraid to understand what the bigger picture is."
Sixteen of the 18 athletes under consideration for a final roster spot, including Harmon, have previous USA Basketball experience. In addition to the 2005 FIBA U19 World Championship gold medal, Anderson, Carson, Larkins and Courtney Paris also helped the American women to the gold medal at the 2005 International Sports Invitational against top junior national teams from Australia, Russia and China. The previous summer, Carson, Larkins and Courtney Paris were members of the USA U18 National Team that earned the United States' berth in the U19 Worlds after claiming the 2004 FIBA Americas U18 Championship. Harmon, along with Carson, Gray-Lawson, Hampton, Lucas-Perry, Montgomery, Packer, Ashley Paris, Courtney Paris, Vaughn, White, Whittington and Wisdom-Hylton, competed in a USA Basketball Youth Development Festival; while LeNoir attended the 2005 USA Junior National Team Trials. Harmon was a gold-medalist at the Festival in 2005.
The 18 finalists will reconvene in late July for training camp at a site to be determined to begin preparations as they look to defend the United States' title at the 2006 FIBA Americas U20 Championship. The final 12-member USA U20 National Team will be announced prior to departing for the FIBA Americas U20 Championship, scheduled to be held Aug. 9-13 in Mexico City, Mexico. Featuring eight teams from North, South and Central Americas and the Caribbean, the top three finishing teams qualify for the 2007 FIBA U21 Women's World Championship that will be held July 27-Aug. 5 in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
The eight participating teams will be divided into two preliminary rounds groups of four teams each. After playing each of the three other teams in its preliminary round group between Aug. 9-11, the top two finishing teams from each preliminary round group will advance to play in the Aug. 12 medal round semifinals, while the third and fourth place finishing teams in preliminary round play will meet in the consolation round semifinals that day. The gold medal, bronze medal, 5th/6th place and 7th/8th place games will be played on Aug. 13.