10 Questions with Jennifer Azzi

Michelle Smith (Left Coast Hoops) asks Jennifer Azzi how the Lady Dons are shaping up and what her first summer as a basketball coach has been like in these 10 questions.

No Pain Jayne

For the first time since February, Jayne is fully healthy and going full-tilt in practice with USA Basketball. How does that feel to her? "it's just fun!" she says. Read more...

Jayne begins training with USA Basketball

Jayne and eight other of the nation's best basketball players began training for the USA Women’s World Championship Team on Saturday afternoon. There are 18 players in the running for the 12 spots on the team. The other nine contenders were not present due to WNBA commitments, injuries and other issues.

The team will compete in the FIBA World Championship for Women from September 23 to October 3 in Czechoslovakia. Before that, they will play friendly games against Australia (the current world champion) and Spain (ranked #5). The USA team members may not be selected until as late as September 21. Read more...

Here are some photos of Jayne hard at work at the training session.

Michelle joins the Utes

Michelle, who is working on her master's degree at the University of Utah, has received an NCAA waiver that allows her to play there this coming season as a redshirt senior.

Here's a report from the Deseret News.

Tall Ferns upset Japan

Together for less than a week, the New Zealand women's basketball team upset Japan 77-74 in Sapporo, Japan today.

The Tall Ferns were not expected to topple a Japanese outfit preparing for the women's world tournament in September.

Jillian had an off-day shooting, hitting just three of her 11 attempts, but she contributed 11 rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and a steal!

This is the game report from the Tall Ferns.

Jillian is a Tall Fern again

Jillian has rejoined the Tall Ferns, the New Zealand women's national team, as it builds towards the 2012 London Olympics.

The only item currently on their schedule is a three-game friendly series against Japan next weekend, Aug 28-31. Japan is hosting the series as a part of its preparations for the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women to be played in the Czech Republic at the end of September. (New Zealand did not qualify for the 2010 World Championship.)

Clare Bodensteiner, who is about to begin her second season as an assistant coach at Loyola University Chicago, did not try out for the New Zealand team.

Read more about the Tall Ferns squad here...

NP & The City: Just a "Wicked" Good time

Nicole blogs about chick theatre and doing the right thing.

Jayne added to USA Women's National Team pool

Four international veterans were today added to the 2009-12 USA Basketball Women’s National Team, from which the 2010 USA World Championship and 2012 U.S. Olympic teams will be selected. Added to the USA National Team roster were Jayne Appel (San Antonio Silver Stars), Rebekkah Brunson (Minnesota Lynx), Ebony Hoffman (Indiana Fever) and Kia Vaughn (New York Liberty), all of whom have aided USA Basketball teams to gold medals during their careers. Read more ...

Quotes from each of the four players and their bio's are here ....

NP & The City: Groovin' to the beat

Nicole blogs about jazz and basketball.

Nicole Powell inducted into Arizona hall of fame

Nicole Powell has been inducted into the 2010 class of the azcentral.com Arizona High School Sports Hall of Fame.

She is considered by many to be the best basketball player to ever come out of an Arizona high school.

She was the only athlete on this year’s ballot to get in by unanimous selection of the 15-member committee. It’s no surprise that her selection was unanimous. She was recently voted The Arizona Republic’s Player of the 20th Century.

Nicole wasn’t just a basketball player in high school, but an all-around athlete. Read more about the accomplishments that earned Nicole this honor in:

• azcentral.com Arizona High School Sports Hall of Fame
• PHXFan, a sports blog for Arizona High School and College sports