DURHAM, N.C.- Three different Blue Devils –
Alexis Jones, Oderah Chidom and Kendall Cooper – will be traveling to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., from May 16-19 as the trio has accepted invitations for the 2013 USA Basketball U19 World Championship Team trials.
The trials will be held May 16-18 with the announcement of the 12-member team on Sunday, May 19. Miami head coach Katie Meier will be the head coach of the U19 squad along with assistants Nikki Caldwell (LSU) and Kelly Graves (Gonzaga).
Jones, who is a product of Irving, Texas, is coming off a standout freshman campaign with the Blue Devils. The 5-8 rookie took over the point guard slot following
Chelsea Gray's injury in February and flourished. She averaged 13.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.3 steals in the final 11 games for the Blue Devils. Jones earned ACC Tournament MVP accolades, after leading Duke to its eighth ACC Championship averaging 17.7 points, 6.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals. She notched 24 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists in the ACC title game versus North Carolina to help clinch the championship. She finished the season with a team-best 144 assists. Jones was a Full Court Freshman All-America, All-ACC Freshman Team, All-ACC Academic Team and Norfolk Regional All-Tournament selection.
Both Chidom and Cooper will be freshman post players on the 2013-14 Blue Devil team. Chidom, a native of Oakland, Calif., was a McDonald's and WBCA All-America selection as a senior at Bishop O'Dowd H.S. The 6-4 forward averaged 14.0 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.1 blocks. She was named the Division III State Player of the Year and Bay Area News Group Girls East Player of the Year as well.
Cooper, who is out of Carson, Calif., averaged 12.3 points, 13.0 rebounds, 4.2 blocks, 2.4 assists and 1.9 steals as a senior at St. Anthony's H.S. She was a McDonald's and WBCA All-America honoree, while also earning Press Telegram All-Area and Santa Cruz All-League First Team. The 6-3 post player tallied 1,516 points, 1,318 rebounds and 427 blocks over her high school career.
Accepting invitations to participate in the trials were: Jordan Adams (Southern California / Irvine, Calif.); Candice Agee (Penn State / Victorville, Calif.); Jillian Alleyne (Oregon / Fontana, Calif.); Ameryst Alston (Ohio State / Canton, Ohio); Shacobia Barbee (Georgia / Mufreesboro, Tenn.); Amber Campbell (Northwood Academy / Charleston, S.C.); Oderah Chidom (Bishop O'Dowd H.S. / Oakland, Calif.); Nia Coffey (Hopkins H.S. / Minneapolis, Minn.); Kendall Cooper (St. Anthony's H.S. / Carson, Calif.); Rebekah Dahlman (Braham Area H.S. / Braham, Minn.); Kaela Davis (Buford H.S. / Suwanee, Ga.); Amber Deane (Dayton / Lathrup Village, Mich.); Lia Galdeira (Washington State / Kamuela, Hawaii); Bashaara Graves (Tennessee / Clarksville, Tenn.); Gabby Green (St. Mary's College H.S. / Oakland, Calif.); Tiaria Griffin (Georgia / Monticello, Miss.); Linnae Harper (Whitney Young H.S. / Chicago, Ill.); Moriah Jefferson (Connecticut / Glenn Heights, Texas);
Alexis Jones (Duke / Irving, Texas); Brittney Martin (Oklahoma State / Syracuse, Utah); Stephanie Mavunga (Brownsburg H.S. / Indianapolis, Ind.); Xylina McDaniel (North Carolina / Columbia, S.C.); Sydney Moss (Florida / Union, Ky.); Kelsey Plum (La Jolla Country Day / Poway, Calif.); Jordan Reynolds (Central Catholic H.S. / Portland, Ore.); Tyler Scaife (Little Rock Hall H.S. / Little Rock, Ark.); Ieshia Small (Florida State University H.S. / Tallahassee, Fla.); Breanna Stewart (Connecticut / North Syracuse, N.Y.); Brittney Sykes (Syracuse / Newark, N.J.); Morgan Tuck (Connecticut / Bolingbrook, Ill.); Brianna Turner (Manvel H.S. / Pearland, Texas); Courtney Walker (Texas A&M / Edmond, Okla.); Marqu'es Webb (Hoover H.S. / Montgomery, Ala.) and A'ja Wilson (Heathwood Hall H.S / Hopkins, S.C.).
The USA squad, which is on a quest to capture a fifth-consecutive gold medal at the U19 Worlds, will compete in the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship, hosted by Lithuania from July 18-28 in Klaipeda and Panevė?ys. The team will regroup for training on July 1 at the USOTC prior to traveling to Europe for the competition.
The FIBA U19 Worlds will feature 16 teams with athletes 19-years-old or younger. While Lithuania earned an automatic berth to the tournament as host, the remaining 15 nations were determined by the five FIBA zone qualifiers in 2012. In addition to the U.S., nations qualified out of the FIBA Americas zone include Brazil (silver medalist), Argentina (bronze medalist) and Canada (fourth place). Senegal (gold medalist) and Mali (silver medalist) will represent FIBA Africa; advancing from FIBA Asia are China (gold medalist), Japan (silver medalist) and South Korea (bronze medalist); Australia took FIBA Oceania's spot after winning the best-of-three series against New Zealand; while FIBA Europe will be represented by France (gold medalist), Russia (silver medalist), Serbia (bronze medalist), Netherlands (fourth place) and Spain (fifth place).
Current collegiate athletes invited to participate in the 2013 USA U19 World Championship Team trials are eligible and may also be considered for the 2013 USA World University Games Team. Trials for both teams will take place in staggered sessions May 16-19. The 2013 World University Games women's basketball competition is scheduled for July 8-15 in Kazan, Russia.
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