July 9, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. --- North Carolina's Erlana Larkins was one of 12 players named to the 2007 USA Women's Pan American Games roster, USA Basketball announced Monday. Larkins and the rest of the squad, under the direction of Temple head coach Dawn Staley, will face seven other national teams from July 20-24 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In addition to Larkins, named to the 2007 USA Basketball Women's Pan American Games Team were: Matee Ajavon (Rutgers), Nicky Anosike (Tennessee), Jayne Appel (Stanford), Marissa Coleman (Maryland), Emily Fox (Minnesota), Alexis Hornbuckle (Tennessee), Chardé Houston (Connecticut), Tasha Humphrey (Georgia), Angel McCoughtry (Louisville), Mel Thomas (Connecticut) and Candice Wiggins (Stanford).

"I think the committee selected a group that is very versatile and athletic," Staley said. "We are a very balanced basketball team that can play at a variety of speeds depending on what we need at any given time. Coming in to camp I thought we'd need a lot of time before they gelled, but this group covers a lot of ground very quickly, especially defensively. Offensively they need to work to get to know each other's tendencies, to define roles and figure out what each players does best.

"This team is very confident. I don't think they foresee losing, but this isn't a cake walk. Each team that we play, it's going to be like the gold medal game. And any team I'm associated with, it's gold or failure. I have huge expectations for this team and for this group as individuals as well."

Staley is being assisted by Kathy Delaney-Smith of Harvard and Bill Gibbons of Holy Cross.

The roster features an impressive 10 athletes who have previously competed for USA Basketball. Wiggins, who today returns from Europe to join the team, averaged a team second-best 13.1 ppg. while helping the USA U21 squad tally a perfect 8-0 record to claim the gold medal. Her competition highlights included 30 points versus Australia to open preliminary play on June 29 and 21 points against Hungary on July 1.

Appel, who also is a finalist for the 2007 USA U19 World Championship Team, won gold with the USA U18 National Team at the 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Larkins was a member of the 2006 USA U20 National Team that captured gold in Mexico City, Mexico, at the FIBA Americas U20 Championship.

In 2005, Anosike, Coleman, Larkins and Wiggins captured the gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Championship, and, prior to the U19 Worlds, won the 2005 International Sports Invitational gold medal. Four team members, Coleman, Houston, Larkins and Wiggins, collected gold medals at the 2004 FIBA Americas U18 Championship; and seven have competed in the USA Basketball Women's Youth Development Festival. Coleman got her start in a USA Basketball uniform at the 2004 Festival; while Ajavon, Hornbuckle, Houston, Humphrey, Thomas and Wiggins all competed in the Festival in 2003.

The USA Pan Am squad will continue training in Washington, D.C, through July 16. On July 10 and 11, the team will practice at 10:00 a.m. at the WNBA's Washington Mystics Practice Facility at the Verizon Center and at 5:00 p.m. at American University's Bender Arena. The team will continue to train at AU the next four days, including a practice at 4:00 p.m. on the 12th, and at 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on both July 13, 14. The squad practices at AU at 9:00 a.m. July 15 and closes camp at the Mystics facility July 16 with a 10:00 a.m. session before departing for Brazil later that day.