Cav's DeMya Walker Named to 1999 USA Pan Am Team
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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.