After unsuccessful attempts to make the 2000 and 2001 USA Basketball Women's Junior National Team the last two years, Louisiana Tech junior guard Amber Obaze was named to the roster in 2002.
Following three days of tryouts, the Dallas, Texas, native earned one of 12 rosters spots on the 2002 USA World Championship for Young Women Qualifying Team, announced Tuesday by USA Basketball.
Obaze, who was selected from a pool of 16 finalists who had been picked out of 36 players in the first tryout in May, said the anticipation of whether she would make the team might have been the hardest part of the tryouts. Tuesday morning all 16 finalists lined up at the training center as the 12 names were called out in alphabetical order.
The team will leave Thursday heading to Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, where it will be one of eight teams competing July 17-21 for a trio of Americas Zone berths into the 2003 World Championships for Young Women.
The final 12-member U.S. squad that will be coached by Texas Tech's Marsha Sharp includes: Kara Brown Braxton (Georgia), Shameka Christon (Arkansas), Ebony Hoffman (USC), Laurie Koehn (Kansas State), Kelly Mazante (Penn State), Amber Obaze (Louisiana Tech), Nicole Ohlde (Kansas State), Jia Perkins (Texas Tech), Cappie Poindexter (Rutgers), Heather Schreiber (Texas), Stacy Stephens (Texas), and Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota).