Australia, France, Hungary, Poland • March 1 - April 13, 2006

The 2006 USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team completed a successful spring training that saw a total of 26 athletes, including eight Olympic gold medalists, compile an overall 10-1 record against top national and professional teams, capture the 2006 Opals World Challenge title and compete in four different countries from March 1 through April 13.

The three separate training tours also gave the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team Committee a chance to evaluate an assortment of elite players as candidates for the 12-member 2006 USA Women's World Championship Team and future USA Senior National Teams, while also allowing USA head coach Anne Donovan and her staff to prepare for the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

European Tour #1
The U.S. opened its training by earning a 3-0 record in Europe against top EuroLeaguesquads, MKB Euroleasing in Sopron, Hungary, and Lotos Gdynia in Poland.

In its opening contest 2000 Olympic and two-time World Championship gold medalist DeLisha Milton-Jones posted 24 points and nine rebounds to lead the USA's 95-78 charge over MKB Eurleasing on March 6. Two-time Olympic and two-time World Championship gold medalist Katie Smith, one of two players to compete in all 11 of the USA's spring training games, paced the pack with 19 points as the U.S. won a hard-fought battle over Lotos Gdynia, 66-61, on March 8. Milton-Jones, who missed the USA's first game against Lotos because of the 2006 EuroLeague All-Star Game, returned on March 9 to score a team-high 15 points in the USA's 69-54 rematch over the Gdynia team.

Milton-Jones and Smith were the USA's top scorers during the first portion of training, averaging 19.5 ppg. and 17.0 ppg., respectively. Leading the way on the glass was USA senior team rookie Kara Braxton with 8.0 rpg. to go with her 6.0 ppg., while Milton-Jones averaged a team second best 7.5 rpg. Diana Taurasi, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist, dished out a team-leading 3.3 apg. to go with her 6.7 ppg.

European Tour #2
In the USA's second tour, which spanned March 17-24, USA newcomers stepped up to the plate as a pair of USA team hopefuls led the squad in scoring all three games.

In the 87-66 win on March 20 over USO Mondeville Basket in Mondeville, France, 2003 USA World Championship For Young Women gold medal winner Nicole Ohlde headed the effort with an 18-point, 7-rebound performance. She again paced the U.S. attack with 18 points in its next contest as the Americans ran away with a 93-67 victory over a Hungarian All-Star Team on March 22 in Gy�r, Hungary. In the USA's final game of its second European Tour, Michelle Snow, who had a team-high 10 rebounds against the Hungarian All-Stars, notched 20 points as the U.S. downed MiZo-P�csi 76-53 on March 24 in P�cs, Hungary.

While the youngsters led in the point column in each of the three games, three-time Olympic gold medalist Sheryl Swoopes and Smith proved to be the top scorers overall for the squad after averaging 13.7 ppg. apiece, while Ohlde and Snow each averaged 12.7 ppg. Snow grabbed a best of 7.3 rpg., followed by Swoopes' 5.7 rpg.

Opals World Challenge
After training April 1 - April 4 in Boston, which saw training camp appearances by 2004 Olympians Sue Bird and Taurasi, as well as Swoopes, who joined in on the entire four-day camp, the U.S. took a young 12-member squad to Australia for the Opals World Challenge. And challenging it was for a number of reasons.

First of all, due to the timing of the WNBA Draft, Donovan and USA assistant coach Mike Thibault, as well as USA team members Seimone Augustus and Cappie Pondexter, the eventual No. 1 and No. 2 WNBA Draft picks by the Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury, respectively, did not travel with the team to Australia and missed the first game in Cairns. Thus, three-time Olympian and USA assistant coach Dawn Staley not only was the acting head coach for the team's first game in Australia, she had only 10 players and no assistants to help out on the sidelines. Additionally, ESPN analyst Kara Lawson arrived just four hours before the USA-China tip on April 7. Further, Donovan, Pondexter and Thibault arrived the afternoon of April 8, six hours before the U.S. faced Australia. Due to flight delays, Augustus did not get to Australia until April 9 and therefore was only able to compete in the final three games. To make matters even more difficult, LSU's Sylvia Fowles dislocated her right shoulder on April 8 and was sidelined for the remainder of the tournament. Up until her injury, which came in the third quarter, Fowles had averaged 9.0 ppg. in 13.0 minutes of play.

Despite all the drama, and the team's lone loss of spring training, the USA still came away with the Opals World Challenge title and placed two athletes on the five-member All-Opals World Challenge Team.

Opening against China in Cairns, Staley piloted the squad in her first game as a USA Basketball coach to an 85-77 victory as University of Tennessee redshirt freshman Candace Parker came up with a team-best 26 points and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Tina Thompson powered the team on the glass with 12 boards and added 10 points. The following night, with a full coaching staff on the bench, the U.S. ran away in the fourth quarter for an 83-63 victory over rival Australia as Smith led the charge with 16 points.

The tournament moved to Canberra, where on April 10 the U.S. again bested China to a tune of 87-53 with the aid of Parker's 17 points and nine boards and Thompson's double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds. Facing Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) on April 11, Thompson poured in 28 points and Parker notched a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds as the U.S. earned a lopsided 91-66 victory, its 10th straight spring training win.

In the final game, after leading by four points at halftime the USA went cold in the third quarter, Australia took the lead and went on to capture the game 76-65 on April 12. Parker and Thompson each posted double-doubles in the loss, combining for 46 points and 21 rebounds, and were named to the all-tournament team. Because the U.S. claimed a 20-point victory over Australia earlier in the tournament, and with both teams holding identical 4-1 slates, the United States came away with the title. China (2-3) placed third and Chinese Taipei (0-5) finished in fourth.

The American women placed their names among the top five in nearly every major statistical category among the four-team field. Parker (18.0 ppg.) and Thompson (17.0 ppg.) were second and third, respectively, for scoring; while in rebounding Thompson (8.6 rpg.) took the top spot and Parker (8.4 rpg.) was second. Parker shot 69.0 percent (40-58 FGs) from the floor to lead everyone in field goal percentage, with Augustus ranked fourth at 57.1 percent (12-21 Fgs); Swin Cash passed off for 2.4 apg. to rank tied for second in assists, while Alana Beard, the only other player to compete in all three camps, and Lawson tied for fourth in assists after averaging 2.2 apg.; Parker led the field in blocked shots (1.4 bpg.); Beard (1.8 spg.) and Augustus (1.67 spg.) went 3-4 in steals; and Smith tied for fourth with one 3-point field goal made per game.

The USA closed the tournament with a +15.2 ppg. scoring margin (82.2 ppg. to 67.0 ppg.), again won the battle on the glass, 48.2 rpg. to 32.0 rpg., and also scorched the nets for a 48.7 shooting percentage.

2006 USA BASKETBALL WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER

2006 USA BASKETBALL WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM SPRING TRAINING RESULTS

2006 USA BASKETBALL WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM SPRING TRAINING CUMULATIVE STATISTICS