After watching two of her University of Maryland basketball teammates win a gold medal last weekend, Marissa Coleman wants to claim one.
Coleman, along with Angel McCoughtry, a Baltimore native who now plays for the University of Louisville, are the latest players with area ties to represent the United States in an international competition. The duo will join the rest of the country?s 12-member national team that will travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to compete in the Pan American Games? tournament July 20-24.
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The team hopes to match the success of the United States? under-21 team, which won the gold medal in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) U21 World Championships in Moscow on Sunday. That team included Maryland players Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper.
Coleman and McCoughtry will look to improve the national?s team silver medal-winning performance at the 2003 Pan American Games, which are held every year before the Summer Olympics.
“Any chance you get to represent your country, you do it,” said Coleman, a rising junior forward at Maryland who won a gold medal with the U19 team in the 2005 FIBA World Championship and International Sports Festival. “I talked with Crystal every day she was in Russia and she told me what to expect. They set the bar high for us.”
McCoughtry, a former standout at St. Frances High, has quickly become one of the top college players in the country after the forward averaged 21.5 points and 10.3 rebounds for Louisville last season.
McCoughtry said competing for a spot on the U.S. team was an educational experience, as she learned about the different rules and strategies of the international game.
“The preparation for a tournament like this is so different than in college,” said McCoughtry, a rising junior. “You don?t know about who you are playing and there are so many different styles you can see from teams from around the world.”
How far will the U.S. Women’s basketball team advance in the Pan American Games? Respond below in our comment section.
