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June 29, 1999

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Featuring 11 women with prior

USA Basketball experience, including Sylvia Crawley

(Portland Power / North Carolina ’94 /

Wintersville, Ohio) a 1996 Olympic Team finalist and

the 1995 USA Basketball Female

Athlete of the Year, two members of USA Basketball’s

1998 R. William Jones Cup Team that

claimed gold, Edwina Brown (Texas ’00 / Lockhart,

Texas) and Lynn Pride (Kansas ’00 /

Arlington, Texas), and the leading scorer from the

1998 USA Basketball Select Team, DeMya

Walker (Virginia ’99 / Mt. Holly, N.J.), USA

Basketball announced today the 12 players

selected who will comprise the 1999 USA Pan American

Games women’s basketball team. As

previously announced, USA Basketball Women’s National

Team head coach Nell Fortner will

lead the 1999 USA Women’s Pan American Games Team and

will be assisted by collegiate

head coaches Denise Curry of Cal State Fullerton and

Peggie Gillom of Texas A&M

University. The player selections were made by the USA

Basketball Women’s Senior National

Team Committee and are subject to approval by the U.S.

Olympic Committee.

Selected for the 1999 USA Women’s Pan American Games

basketball team were: Angela

Aycock (Seattle Reign / Kansas ’95 / Dallas, Texas);

Brown; Crawley; Beth Cunningham

(formerly Beth Morgan) (Philadelphia Rage / Notre Dame

’97 / Bloomington, Ind.); Katryna

Gaither (San Jose Lasers / Notre Dame ’97 / Wappingers

Falls, N.Y.); Amy Herrig (Iowa ’99

/ Dubuque, Iowa); Michelle Marciniak (Nashville Noise

/ Tennessee ’96 / Macungie, Pa.);

Danielle McCulley (Portland Power / Western Kentucky

’98 / Gary, Ind.); Pride; Itoro Umoh

(Virginia ’99 / Mt. Holly, N.J.); Walker and Umeki

Webb (Phoenix Mercury / North Carolina

State ’97 / Dallas, Texas).

The 1999 Pan American Games women’s basketball

competition will be held July 30 – August

8 in Winnipeg, Canada, and is a multi-sport

competition held every four years and open to

athletes from North, South and Central America and the

Caribbean. The U.S. women’s team

will train at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in

Colorado Springs, Colo., from July 16-22,

then will train in Chicago, Ill. with the Slovakian

Women’s National Team from July 23-26

prior to traveling to Winnipeg on July 28.

“I look at this as an outstanding opportunity for

these players to compete at a high level of

international competition and to do so while

representing their country,” said Fortner. “The

roster features a nice blend of experienced players

and some very exciting younger players

who have either just completed their college careers

or will do so next year. The 1999 Pan

American Games will afford our players the opportunity

to help the USA reclaim the Pan

American Games gold.”

Of the 12-member USA squad, seven played

professionally in 1998-99, Webb for Phoenix in

the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) and

Aycock, Crawley, Cunningham,

Gaither, Marciniak and McCulley in the ABL (American

Basketball League). Three players,

Herrig, Umoh and Walker, completed their collegiate

careers in 1998-99, while the two

remaining players, Brown and Pride, are slated to

conclude their senior collegiate year in

2000.

The 1999 USA Women’s Pan American Games Team is not

short on international experience.

While 11 players boast of past USA Basketball team

experience, eight of those members have

played for USA Basketball as recently as 1997. In

1998, Brown and Pride were leading

members of the USA R. William Jones Cup Team that

finished 5-0 and won the gold medal,

while Walker was the leading scorer at 16.0 ppg. with

the 1998 USA Select Team that

compiled a 7-1 record while facing national teams in

Puerto Rico, Poland and Spain. In 1997,

Pride was a member of the USA’s gold medal winning

Junior World Championship squad,

while Herrig was part of the gold medalist World

University Games team, and Crawley,

Cunningham, Gaither and Marciniak were part of the USA

World Championship Qualifying

Tournament Team that collected a silver medal and

earned the U.S. a qualifying spot for the

1998 FIBA World Championship.

Also, while Crawley was among 18 finalists for the

1996 USA Olympic Team, she and

Marciniak were part of the ’96 USA Jones Cup Team that

claimed gold with a perfect 9-0

mark, Cunningham and Herrig were members of USA

Basketball’s 1996 Select Team and

Crawly and Marciniak were part of the 1995 World

University Games that claimed a silver

medal. Additionally, Herrig (1995), Marciniak (1989,

1990, 1991), McCulley (1994), Walker

(1995) and Webb (1994 ,1995) have all participated in

a U.S. Olympic Festival.

The U.S. has medaled in every Pan Am Games entered

since 1955, earning six golds, three

silvers and one bronze medal in 10 competitions and

has compiled an overall 58-7 record. Last

capturing the gold in 1987, the U.S. finished with the

bronze in 1991 and its hopes of

reclaiming gold in 1995 were dashed when the ’95 Pan

American Games women’s basketball

competition was canceled because not enough teams

entered.

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