Paris Begins Next Team USA Stint

April 10, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. -- University of Oklahoma junior Courtney Paris begins her next stint with the U.S. Senior National Women's Basketball Team this weekend as Team USA prepares for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Paris will join the U.S Senior National Team for its training camp in Chicago, Ill., April 13-15, before the group travels to China for the 2008 Good Luck Beijing Tournament (April 19-26).

The 11 members of Team USA that will participate in this Beijing tournament include Paris, Swin Cash, Sylvia Fowles, Lindsey Harding, Laura Harper, Crystal Langhorne, Kara Lawson, Lisa Leslie, Katie Smith, Lindsay Whalen and Candice Wiggins.

"I'm excited to rejoin my USA teammates and help prepare the national team for the Olympics," Paris said.

"With so much talent on this year's team, I know earning a spot on the Olympic roster will be a challenge, but I'm eager and prepared to do my absolute best and grow as much as I can as a player and person."

For more information on the U.S. Senior National Team, visit USABasketball.com.

By 218 days, Paris, 20, is the youngest player on the 29-member Senior National Team roster pool (Candice Wiggins is the second youngest) and is its only active collegiate student-athlete.

Round robin play for the Good Luck Beijing Tournament begins Saturday, April 19, as the U.S. meets familiar foe Australia. Team USA then faces Cuba, Korea, New Zealand and China, respectively, in the successive days before the medal round is played on April 26.

With Paris on its roster, the U.S. Senior National Team carried an 11-0 record in 2007 and earned a gold medal at the FIBA Americas Zone Championships. Paris averaged 2.4 points and 2.4 rebounds in her five appearances at the FIBA Americas Championships while playing nine minutes per game, but was often used as a role player to ensure rebounds or points in the paint.

Paris has won seven gold medals as a member of USA Basketball teams and has never been a part of a losing team in elimination games, building a 40-0 record in five years (15-2 in exhibition games).

The United States qualified for the Olympics with its 2007 FIBA Americas Zone Championship in Valdivia, Chile, in August.

The U.S. Senior National Team is coached by Anne Donovan with Gail Goestenkors (University of Texas), Dawn Staley (Temple University) and Mike Thibault (Connecticut Sun) serving as assistants.

COURTNEY PARIS' USA BASKETBALL STATISTICS
TEAM	G/S	FGM-FGA	PCT	3PM-3PA	PCT	FTM-FTA	PCT	REB/AVG	PTS/AVG	AST	BLK	STL
2007 WTOA	5/ 0	5- 10	.500	0- 0	.---	2- 4	.500	12/ 2.4	12/ 2.4	2	1	2
2007 U21	8/ 7	39- 70	.557	0- 0	.---	9- 15	.600	64/ 8.0	87/ 10.9	9	3	6
2007 ITLX	4/ 0	8- 15	.533	0- 0	.---	2- 2	1.000	14/ 3.5	18/ 4.5	3	3	2
2007 U21X	3/ 3	10- 22	.455	0- 0	.---	6- 11	.545	26/ 8.7	26/ 8.7	4	2	4
2007 WNT	6/ 0	12- 19	.632	0- 0	.---	6- 8	.750	17/ 2.8	30/ 5.0	6	4	2
2006 U20	5/ 5	30- 51	.588	0- 1	.000	11- 21	.524	40/ 8.0	71/ 14.2	6	1	2
2005 U19	8/ 0	45- 68	.662	0- 1	.000	7- 22	.318	56/ 7.0	97/ 12.1	8	4	10
2005 U19X	2/ 0	8- 15	.533	0- 0	.---	0- 3	.000	14/ 7.0	16/ 8.0	3	0	2
2005 ISI	4/ 0	21- 36	.583	0- 1	.000	6- 17	.353	33/ 8.3	48/ 12.0	1	4	3
2004 JWCQ	5/ 5	35- 51	.686	0- 0	.---	9- 20	.450	45/ 9.0	79/ 15.8	13	3	1
2004 DF-W	5/ 2	30- 58	.517	0- 2	.000	16- 26	.615	58/ 11.6	76/ 15.2	5	6	7
Totals	55/22	243- 415	.586	0- 5	.000	74- 149	.497	379/ 6.9	560/ 10.2	60	31	41