University of Tennessee Athletics
USA Trials For DeShields, Russell
May 06, 2015 | Women's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee rising redshirt sophomores Diamond DeShields and Mercedes Russell have been invited by USA Basketball to participate in the Pan American and World University Games Team Trials May 14-17 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
DeShields, a 6-foot-1 guard from Norcross, Ga. (Norcross H.S.), and Russell, a 6-6 center from Springfield, Ore. (Springfield H.S.), will be among 16 players at the Trials who have won at least one gold medal with USA Basketball. They will be competing with 56 of the nation's best collegiate basketball players for the opportunity to represent their country this summer.
The Trials will be used to determine the rosters for the 2015 U.S. Pan American Women's Basketball Team and the 2015 USA Women's World University Games Team. The 12 members of each squad, or finalists for each team, will be announced on the morning of May 17.
Players eligible for the 2015 U.S. Pan American Games and USA World University Games teams must be U.S. citizens who currently are enrolled as full-time college students with remaining eligibility for the 2015-16 school year.
"We have more than enough talent to field two teams from among this group," said Jim Foster (University of Tennessee-Chattanooga), chair of the USA Basketball Junior National Team Committee.
"It will be a very competitive trials, as there are a number of very good players with vast USA Basketball experience and a very attractive group of first-time invitees."
In addition to Foster, the USA Basketball Women's Junior National Team Committee includes NCAA appointees Melanie Balcomb (Vanderbilt), Lindsay Gottlieb (California) and Joi Williams (UCF); and athlete representative Kara Lawson Barling, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist and Tennessee alum.
The selected U.S. Pan American Women's Basketball Team players and coaches will return to Colorado on July 3 for the start of training camp and will depart for the competition in Toronto, Canada, on July 8. The 2015 Pan American Games women's basketball competition will take place July 16-20.
The selected USA players and coaches for the 2015 USA World University Games Team will return to Colorado Springs for training camp on June 18-July 2, before departing for the event. The 2015 World University Games women's basketball competition will be held July 4-13 in Gwangju, South Korea.
