Two of Duke's women's basketball players - rising seniors and All-Americans Alana Beard and Iciss Tillis - were among 24 players chosen to represent the United States this summer on a pair of 12-member 2003 USA Basketball teams.
The Blue Devil duo, along with sophomore Mistie Bass, competed with 55 of the nation's top collegiate players in team tryouts at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. May 22-25, with Beard being named to the USA World Championship for Young Women team and Tillis being selected for the Pan American Games roster.
After taking the 2002 summer off from competitive basketball, Beard will be representing the United States for a third year, this time as one of the veterans on a team trying to win the inaugural FIBA World Championship for Young Women in Sibenik, Croatia, July 25-Aug. 3.
"It's an honor to be part of USA Basketball," Beard said. "Having two years of experience with the national team, I'm expected to be a leader, which is a role I love."
The Shreveport, La. native, who averaged 18 points per game as a member of the third-place 2001 USA Basketball Women's Junior World Championship team, will be surrounded by a plethora of talent on the 21-and-under squad coached by Ohio State's Jim Foster.
Eleven of the 12 players named to the team are All-Americans, including fellow first-team member Nicole Ohlde of Kansas State, three-time USA basketball participant Cappie Pondexter of Rutgers and National Freshman of the Year Simone Augustus of LSU.
"This team is very unique and definitely one of the best that I've played on," Beard said. "Everyone has at least one year of college experience, and several players on the team have had international exposure. I think that's going to help us in the long run."
Because the USA Young Women's National Team was limited to players born on or after Jan. 1, 1982, Beard's teammate Tillis was not eligible to join her.
However, 6-foot-4 forward was chosen to participate in the Pan American Games, a multi-sport competition held every four years in the year preceding the summer Olympics.
"It is definitely one of the highest honors to represent the United States, especially now with the war going on and everything," said Tillis, who also played on the 1998 USA World Youth Games team. "It will just be a really incredible experience."
Tillis, a 2003 Wade Trophy finalist, will be teaming with several familiar college foes under University of Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan.
Connecticut's Ann Strother and Barbara Turner, as well as Stanford's Nicole Powell, will join the Tulsa, Okla. native for the August 2-9 tournament in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
"I think playing against the great post players that are on the team and practicing against these girls every single day is going to help me when the season starts next year," Tillis said. "When you play against the best of the best, you can't help but raise your level of intensity."
The only other Blue Devil invited to the tryouts, sophomore Mistie Bass, was not selected for either team. However, Bass's teammates believe that the four days of basketball were an important learning experience for her.
"This is a great experience for anyone," Beard said. "Just being here will boost Mistie's confidence. I saw improvement in her game after the first day, and it gave her a chance to see things that she needs to work on."
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