April 26, 2011
STANFORD, Calif. - Former Stanford All-Americans Candice Wiggins and Jayne Appel will join fellow members of the 2009-12 USA Basketball women's National Team as well as two new invitees in attending the USA National Team's May 10-12 training camp in Las Vegas, Nev., USA Basketball announced Tuesday.
All 12 players who were part of the USA squad that captured the 2010 FIBA World Championship gold medal, including Appel, will be at the camp. Training sessions will be held at 10 a.m. each day at UNLV's Cox Pavilion, under the watch of 2009-12 USA National Team head coach Geno Auriemma.
USA National Team members set to join Wiggins and Appel at the training camp are Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Rebekkah Brunson (Minnesota Lynx), Swin Cash (Seattle Storm), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever), Tina Charles (Connecticut Sun), Shameka Christon (Chicago Sky), Candice Dupree (Phoenix Mercury), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky), Lindsey Harding (Atlanta Dream), Ebony Hoffman (Los Angeles Sparks), Asjha Jones (Connecticut Sun), Kara Lawson (Connecticut Sun), Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream), Renee Montgomery (Connecticut Sun), Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx), Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks), Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), Kia Vaughn (New York Liberty) and Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx).
Added to this mix are Baylor sophomore center Brittany Griner (Baylor) and Chicago Sky point guard Courtney Vandersloot, formerly of Gonzaga. Griner and Vandersloot accepted invitations to participate in the camp for a chance to be added to the national team pool.
Appel, who got her first taste of full national team experience as a member of the FIBA World Championship team last fall, is set to begin her second pro season with the San Antonio Silver Stars this spring. Despite making a delayed debut due to foot and ankle injuries sustained in the final half of the 2009-10 collegiate season, Appel saw action in 28 games for the Silver Stars, averaging almost 11.0 minutes per game. She was also named to the WNBA All-Star Team that faced off against the USA National Team at the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game.
Wiggins will return to training for the national team after missing all but eight games of her 2010 WNBA campaign with a ruptured left Achilles tendon. The San Diego, Calif. native had started seven of her eight games for the Minnesota Lynx before having her third pro season cut short. At the time of injury, Wiggins was averaging 13.8 points a game and shooting 45.7 percent (21-for-46) on 3-point attempts for the Lynx.
She last saw international action for the U.S. in April 2008, just after finishing her collegiate career at Stanford. Wiggins helped the U.S. squad win the silver medal at the Good Luck Beijing Tournament prior to the 2008 Olympics.