Rutgers Women's Basketball to Again Represent USA
May 20 | Women's Basketball
COLORADO SPRINGS, Co. - Rutgers women's basketball will have four athletes competing on a trio of USA Basketball teams this summer. The three-day USA National Team Trials saw 81 athletes competing for a limited number of spaces.
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Essence Carson |
Junior Essence Carson (Paterson, N.J.) and sophomore Kia Vaughn (Bronx, N.Y.) were selected as finalists for the 2007 USA U21 National Team.
Junior Matee Ajavon (Newark, N.J.) was tabbed a finalist - one of 14 - for the USA Pan Am Games team. The USA Pan Am finalists will reconvene on July 6 in Washington, D.C., and the eventual 12-member squad will be named prior to the team departing for Brazil on July 16.
In contention for one of 12 roster spots as a finalist for the U19 World Championship team is incoming freshman Khadijah Rushdan (St. Elizabeth/Wilmington, Del.).
Rutgers is one of only two programs to have four spots filled on the three teams. Stanford is the other.
Carson and Vaughn are two of the seven athletes who return from the 2006 USA U20 National Team that captured the gold medial in Mexico City last year.
Carson named a finalist for the fourth year in a row has collected three golds, including one in 2005 as a member of the FIBA U19 World Championship team and in competition in 2004 at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship squad. Vaughn began her USA career at the 2004 USA Youth Development Festival.
The USA will look to defend its world title in this age group, open to athletes 21-years-old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1986), at the 2007 FIBA U21 World Championship, held this year June 29-July 8 in Moscow, Russia.
Ajavon joins several familiar faces on the roster, including BIG EAST foes Krystal Ellis (Marquette), Angel McCoughtry (Louisville), Chard???? Houston (Connecticut) and Mel Thomas (Connecticut). Joining her as a teammate are two individuals, Ajavon encountered in the NCAA National Championship game - Tennessee's Nicky Anosike and Alexis Hornbuckle.
Previously, Ajavon competed in a USA Basketball uniform in the 2003 USA Development Festival. The Pan American Games will be held July 13-30, with the women's basketball competition slated for July 20-24, in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. The Games will feature eight national teams from FIBA Americas. The Pan American Games, held every four years in the year prior to the Olympics and organized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), is a multi-sport competition with representation from countries in North, South and Central America and the Caribbean.
Rushdan is a veteran of USA Basketball having helped the red, white and blue register a 4-0 mark en route to the gold at the 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship. The Parade All-America first team honoree and McDonald's All-America game participant was one of 16 players selected to move on to the next round.
Sixteen countries will compete in the U19 World Championship for Women that will be held July 26-Aug. 5 in Bratislava, Slovakia. The U19 finalist will reconvene in Washington, D.C. on July 12th to train prior to departing for Europe on July 17.
