April 27, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - Junior Penn State women's basketball player Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) and future Lady Lion Nikki Greene (Diboll, Texas) each received invitations to the 2009 USA Basketball Trials, which will be held May 14-17 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Grant's invitation is to tryout for the World University Games team, while Greene will try to earn a spot on the U19 FIBA World Championship squad.
Grant became the 10th player in school history to claim All-Big Ten first team honors, giving the Lady Lions a conference-best 22 first team choices since joining the league. Grant finished second in the Big Ten and 19th in the NCAA with a 19.6 scoring average, which was also good enough for sixth on Penn State's single-season list. The junior guard was 10th in the Big Ten in free throw percentage (.764), tied for seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.367) and fifth in three-pointers made (1.9). Against Florida State, Grant became the 14th junior and the 31st player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. She finished the 2008-09 season ranked 13th in school history with 1,447 points.
The 2009 World University Games will be held July 1-12 in Belgrade, Serbia with collegiate-aged teams from around the world participating. Players eligible for this team must be U.S. citizens, born between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 1991, who are currently enrolled as a full-time collegiate student with remaining eligibility for the 2009-10 school year. The head coach of the 2009 World University Games team is Charli Turner Thorne from Arizona State and she is assisted by Suzy Merchant from Michigan State and Julie Rousseau from Pepperdine.
The training and competition schedule includes: May 14-17, World University Games Team Trials (Colorado Springs, Colo.); June 18-25, Training Camp (Colorado Springs, Colo.); June 26-30, Training/scrimmages (Belgrade, Serbia); July 1-11, World University Games (Belgrade, Serbia); and July 12, Return to United States.
Greene, who was a first team All-State choice this season, was one of 20 players selected to play in the WBCA High School All-America Game presented by Nike. She led the Diboll Ladyjacks to a 35-2 record and the Class 3A Region III Championship game in her senior season. Greene, the No. 19 recruit in the country according to ESPN/HoopGurlz, was also selected as the District 18-3A MVP this season.
The 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship features 16 national teams comprised of athletes 19-years-old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1990) that that qualified through their FIBA zone tournaments. Included in the field of nations are: Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Japan, Lithuania, Mali, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia and the USA. Training camp will begin on July 8 in Colorado Springs, and the eventual 12-member roster will be announced prior to the team departing for Thailand.
The head coach of the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship team is Northern Illinois head coach Carol Owens. She will be assisted by Florida's Amanda Butler and Iowa State's Bill Fennelly.
USA Basketball is the national governing body for the sport in the United States. Any team representing the United States in international basketball competitions (e.g., Olympic Games and World Championships) is selected, trained and supported by USA Basketball.