COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — LSU women’s basketball signee Aiysha Smith is one of 36 players that has been invited to participate in the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Trials which will be held in Colorado Springs, Colo., from May 18-21.
This is the second consecutive year a Lady Tiger player has been chosen to try out for the national team as Marie Ferdinand went and made the U.S. team a year ago.
“Aiysha is just one of those very gifted players. Her physical ability and her knowledge of the game are just outstanding,” said LSU coach Sue Gunter. “She is a good shooter with great touch. She defends and boards and just loves to play the game.
“She is just really the essence of what we are looking for in a post player.”
Smith comes to LSU after one season at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, where she was named a first-team junior college All-American.
Of the 36 athletes who have accepted invitations to the 2001 Trials, 12 have been involved with USA Basketball in the past, 19 recently completed their junior seasons at the NCAA Division I level, 13 were NCAA sophomores in 2000-01, two were freshmen this past season and two hail from the NJCAA Division I level. In addition to the 13 All-Americans on the list, three earned 2001 NCAA Tournament all-regional honors and 27 collected 2001 all-conference accolades.
A 2001 Naismith Player of the Year finalist Anderson headlines the list of former USA Basketball players. A member of the bronze medal winning 1998 USA World Youth Games Team, in 2000 Anderson teamed with Ferdinand to help the USA R. William Jones Cup Team to a gold medal and returned a month later to compete against the 2000 USA Basketball Women’s National Team as a member of the 2000 USA Select Team. Lawson garnered USA Basketball experience on the 1998 USA World Youth Games Team and Payne was a teammate of Anderson’s on both of the 2000 U.S. teams. Aiding the 1999 USA World University Games Team to a silver medal was Walker, while Butler, Caufield, Geter, Greco, Ragland, Roulier, Williams and Yamasaki have all participated in prior USA Basketball Team Trials.
Highlighting the All-American list is Anderson, an Associated Press and Women’s Basketball Journal 2001 All-America second team selection, who was also named a 2001 Kodak/Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-America honorable mention. Earning 2001 AP All-America honorable mention were Crockrom, Lawson, Moody, Moore, Ragland and Walker, while Floyd, Lambert, Ragland, Walker and Stomski were all tabbed Kodak/WBCA All-America honorable mentions. Selected to the Women’s Basketball Journal All-America third and fourth team were Lambert and Crockrom, respectively, while Caufield and Moore were each named to the 2001 Women’s Basketball Journal Defensive All-America first team. Additionally, Ortega and Smith were honored by the NJCAA as 2001 NJCAA All-America first team selections.
Among all-conference honorees are Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Year Gardner, Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year Ragland, Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year Lambert, and conference Defensive Players of the Year Moore (Big 10 Conference) and Walker (Sun Belt Conference). In addition to garnering these awards, all five were named to their respective all-conference first teams, as were Anderson (Southeastern Conference), Crockrom (Big 12), Greco (Pac-10), Lawson (SEC), Meder (Big 10), Powers (Sun Belt) and Stomski (Big 10). Listed among their respective all-conference second teams were Brown (Atlantic Coast Conference [ACC]), Caufield (Big 12), Coleman (Big 10), Floyd (ACC), Geter (SEC) Hill (Big 12) and Moody (ACC); while Butler (ACC), Nightingale (Big 12), Roulier (Big 12), Traylor (ACC) and Warley (ACC) collected all-conference third team honors and Yamasaki was named All-Pac-10 honorable mention. The two freshmen also secured all-conference awards as Lalum was named All-Pac-10 honorable mention and Wright was named to the Big 10 All-Freshman Team.
University of Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan will serve as head coach of the 2001 U.S. squad and she will be assisted by University of Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder and East Carolina University (N.C.) head coach Dee Stokes.
The final 12-member team will be named during the August 6-14 training camp which will be held at the USOTC.
The World University Games, held every two years and organized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), is a multi-sport competition open to men and women between the ages of 17 and 28 (born between January 1, 1973 and December 31, 1983), who are, or have been within the past year, a student at a college or university. This summer the World University Games will be held Aug. 22 – Sept. 1 in Beijing, China.
The 2001 World University Games women’s basketball competition, currently featuring squads from 20 countries, has been divided into four preliminary round pools. The United States has been placed in Pool B and will face Canada, Ireland, Japan and South Africa in the preliminary round.
The USA women have enjoyed outstanding success in the World University Games and have earned 11 medals in 12 appearances, including four golds, six silvers and one bronze medal, and have compiled an overall record of 68-14 (.829) since beginning World University Games play in 1973. In the last competition, which was held in 1999 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, the U.S. finished with a 4-2 record and the silver medal. The USA women last earned the World University Games gold in Sicily in 1997.
The United States has been sending women’s teams to the World University Games since 1973, and since then the World University Games has served as an important developmental event for the U.S. Of the 64 all-time U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team members, 34 have been members of USA Basketball women’s World University Games teams. Most notable among the list of WUG alumni are Carol Blazejowski, Ruthie Bolton (Holifield), Denise Curry, Anne Donovan, Kamie Ethridge, Pat Head (Summitt), Tara Heiss, Lisa Leslie, Katrina McClain, Suzie McConnell (Serio), Ann Meyers (Drysdale), DeLisha Milton, Cindy Noble (Hauserman), Vickie Orr (Wiley), Katie Smith, Dawn Staley, Katy Steding, Kara Wolters and Lynette Woodard.
The USA Basketball Women’s Collegiate Committee, in addition to Plonsky, is comprised of NAIA designee Stephanie Findley (head coach, Oklahoma Christian University); NCAA appointees Tom Collen (head coach, Colorado State University), Gail Goestenkors (head coach, Duke University, N.C.), Donna Noonan (Vice President, Women’s Basketball Championship, NCAA) and Willette White (head coach, Northeastern University, Mass.); representing the NJCAA is Mary Ellen Leicht (Assistant Executive Director, NJCAA); Muffet McGraw (head coach, Notre Dame University, Ind.) was appointed by the WBCA and Teresa Edwards (2000, 1996, 1992, 1988 and 1984 Olympian, 1994, 1990 and 1986 World Championship teams / Smyrna, Ga.) and Vickie Orr-Wiley (1992 Olympic bronze medalist, 1990 World Championship gold medalist / Birmingham, Ala.) are the athlete representatives.
NAME POS HGT WGT BIRTHDATE GRADUATION DATE SCHOOL / HOMETOWN
Chantelle Anderson C 6-6 185 01/22/81 2003 Vanderbilt / Vancouver, WA
Kerensa Barr G 5-10 155 11/18/80 2003 Missouri / West Plains, MO
Coretta Brown G 5-8 145 10/21/80 2003 North Carolina / Statesboro, GA
Niesha Butler G 5-8 150 09/03/80 2003 Georgia Tech / New York, NY
La’Neishea Caufield F 5-9 153 05/25/80 2002 Oklahoma / Ada, OK
Courtney Coleman F 6-2 165 04/13/81 2003 Ohio State / Cincinnati, OH
Danielle Crockrom F 6-2 160 02/11/81 2002 Baylor / Houston, TX
Cori Enghusen C 6-7 170 04/08/80 2002 Stanford / Bothell, WA
Chrissy Floyd G 5-9 134 08/04/81 2003 Clemson / Laurens, SC
# Catrina Frierson F 6-1 175 10/13/80 2003 Louisiana Tech / Vicksburg, MS
Andrea Gardner C 6-3 180 12/23/79 2002 Howard / Washington, DC
Teresa Geter F/C 6-4 166 09/29/79 2002 South Carolina / Columbia, SC
Michelle Greco G 5-9 140 03/24/80 2002 UCLA / LaCrescenta, CA
Caton Hill F 6-1 185 01/11/81 2003 Oklahoma / Ada., OK
Andrea Lalum F/G 6-4 200 12/05/81 2004 Washington / Bozeman, MT
Shelia Lambert G 5-7 123 07/21/80 2002 Baylor / Seattle, WA
Kara Lawson G 5-8 160 02/14/81 2003 Tennessee / Alexandria, VA
Ashley McElhiney G 5-5 133 07/16/81 2003 Vanderbilt / Gleason, TN
Lindsey Meder G 5-8 137 09/16/79 2002 Iowa / Solon, IA
Carisse Moody F 6-1 180 09/15/81 2003 North Carolina State / Rocky Mount, NC
Tamara Moore G 5-11 165 04/11/80 2002 Wisconsin / Minneapolis, MN
Mandy Nightingale G 5-6 145 05/16/80 2002 Colorado / Sapulpa, OK
Kim Ortega G 5-9 140 12/25/81 2002* Seward County C.C. / Logandale, NV
Loree Payne G/F 6-0 165 07/30/81 2003 Washington / Havre, MT
Natalie Powers G 5-11 155 07/24/79 2002 Western Kentucky / Owensboro, KY
Telisha Quarles G 5-8 130 06/20/80 2002 Virginia / Louisa, VA
Felicia Ragland G 5-9 130 02/03/80 2002 Oregon State / Tulare, CA
Jenny Roulier G 5-9 150 10/16/79 2002 Colorado / Englewood, CO
Aiysha Smith F 6-2 165 07/18/80 2001* Tyler J.C. / Detroit, MI
Jessie Stomski F 6-3 160 02/02/80 2002 Wisconsin / Oakdale, MN
April Traylor G 5-10 150 04/25/80 2002 Florida State / Martinsville, IN
Ayana Walker C 6-2 148 0/910/79 2002 Louisiana Tech / Houston, TX
Deedee Warley F 6-2 155 03/10/80 2002 Maryland / Ft. Washington, MD
Shaquala Williams G 5-6 135 04/14/80 2002 Oregon / Portland, OR
Shereka Wright F 5-11 155 09/21/81 2004 Purdue / Copperas Cove, TX
# Lindsey Yamasaki G/F 6-1 160 06/02/80 2003 Stanford / Oregon City, OR
* Junior college graduation date
# Has applied for a medical waiver
2001 USA Basketball Women’s World University Games Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Debbie Ryan, University of Virginia
Assistant Coach: Lisa Bluder, University of Iowa
Assistant Coach: Dee Stokes, East Carolina University (N.C.)