Feb. 13, 2012

USA Basketball Release

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Two-time Stanford All-American and 2010 FIBA World Championship gold medalist Jayne Appel was among 21 USA Basketball Women's National Team members named as finalists for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Monday.

Appel, a veteran of the senior national team as well as numerous youth national teams for USA Basketball, joins a group that includes the entire roster of the 2010 FIBA World Championship-winning squad. She currently plays in the WNBA for the San Antonio Silver Stars, who drafted her with the fifth overall pick in the 2010 WNBA Draft.

In all, The 21 finalists for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Women's Basketball Team include: Appel, Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Rebekkah Brunson (Minnesota Lynx), Swin Cash (Chicago Sky), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever), Tina Charles (Connecticut Sun), Candice Dupree (Phoenix Mercury), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky), Brittney Griner (Baylor University), Lindsey Harding (Atlanta Dream), Asjha Jones (Connecticut Sun), Kara Lawson (Connecticut Sun), Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream), Renee Montgomery (Connecticut Sun), Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx), Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks), Cappie Pondexter (New York Liberty), Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx) and Sophia Young (San Antonio Silver Stars).

The 2012 U.S. Olympic Team will be led by University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma. He will be assisted by DePaul head coach Doug Bruno, Washington Mystics assistant coach Jennifer Gillom and Atlanta Dream head coach Marynell Meadors.

"Now that we're down to 21 finalists, you look around and you see a group of players that have tremendous experience," Auriemma told USA Basketball Monday. "(We have) players that have won (Olympic) gold medals, won World Championships, there are WNBA champions on the list, players that have won in Europe in international competition. You've got a group of players that have experienced everything there is to experience and as a coach, as someone who's been around these players, I couldn't be happier with this group. They represent the best of what the United States has to offer."

Appel is no stranger to the USA Basketball system, owning three gold medals at the senior and youth levels of international basketball. Along with her gold medal from the 2010 FIBA World Championships in the Czech Republic, Appel captured gold with the USA Basketball Pan Am Games Team in Brazil in 2007 and with the U18 World Championship Team in Colorado Springs in 2006.

In her four years at Stanford from 2006-10, Appel etched her name into the Cardinal record books as one of the top players in program history. A two-time State Farm Coaches' All-American (2009-10), winner of both the Pac-10 Player of the Year (2009) and Freshman of the Year (2007) awards and four-time All-Pac-10 Team performer, Appel ended her Stanford career as the program's leading rebounder (1,263, now second all-time) and shot-blocker (273), and third in both points scored (2,125, now fourth) and field-goal percentage (56.5).

As a three-year captain, Appel helped lead the Cardinal to three Final Four appearances and a pair of national championship games from 2008-10, earning the Berkeley Regional Most Outstanding Player honor in 2009 after a scoring a Stanford single-game record 46 points in the Cardinal's 74-53 win over Iowa State.

The United States will aim to capture its fifth straight Olympic Gold Medal, and seventh overall, at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The U.S. currently holds a 33-game winning streak in Olympic competition. The 2012 Olympic women's basketball competition will be held July 28-August 12 at the Olympic Park Basketball Arena (preliminary rounds and quarterfinals) and North Greenwich Arena (semifinals and final).

The draw to determine the two preliminary round pools of six teams each is scheduled to be held April 28 at the FIBA Central Board meeting in the Ivory Coast. The preliminary round, played July 28-Aug. 5, will feature a round-robin schedule and the top four finishing teams will advance to the Aug. 7 quarterfinals. The semifinals are scheduled for Aug. 9 and the finals will be played on Aug. 11.