Carson, USA Golden at International Sports Invitational
Jun 12 | Women's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, NJ – Rutgers’ Essence Carson (Paterson, NJ) and the USA Basketball Junior National Team defeated Russia 73-57 in the gold-medal game of the International Sports Invitational June 11 at San Diego State University. At the conclusion of the tournament, Carson was named one of 12 members of the U.S. Under-19 World Championship Team, which will compete in Tunisia in July.
Carson, a 6-0 guard, had seven points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals and a blocked shot in 20 minutes as a starter against Russia. In the four games of the tournament, Carson started twice, averaging 3.5 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.8 steals in 16.5 minutes per contest.
USA Basketball will hold additional training sessions June 28 – July 2 in Colorado Springs, CO, July 2-6 in Washington, DC, July 7-10 in Hungary and July 11-14 in Tunisia. The 2005 FIBA Women’s U-19 World Championship will be conducted July 15-24 in Hammamet and Tunis, Tunisia. To be eligible for the 2005 team, an athlete must have been born on or after Jan. 1, 1986.
Carson started 23 of 35 games as a freshman for Rutgers, ranking fifth for the Scarlet Knights in scoring (6.6 ppg) and second in rebounding (5.5 rpg). A member of the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) All-Second Team, she was named the BIG EAST Conference Freshman of the Week Jan. 10.
Carson helped lead the 2004 U.S. Women’s Junior World Championship
Qualifying Team to a gold medal in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, averaging 8.7
points and 3.3 rebounds per game. She also played on the 2003 USA
Basketball Youth Development Festival East Team that won a gold medal.
