For the 12th time in 14 years, the University of Notre Dame women’s basketball team will be represented at the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Trials, as junior forward Taya Reimer and incoming freshman guard Ali Patberg have accepted invitations from USA Basketball to try out for one of their country’s national teams May 14-17 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. The invitations were issued by the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee, chaired by Jim Foster, head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Reimer and Patberg will be seeking to add to a remarkable run of USA Basketball success by the Fighting Irish women’s basketball team, which has produced at least one member of a USA Basketball squad for the past nine years and 11 times in the last 12 years. That streak already was extended last weekend, when incoming freshman guard Arike Ogunbowale earned her third consecutive USA Basketball 3x3 Under-18 national title and the right to represent her country as part of the USA team and go after a third consecutive 3x3 U18 gold medal (fifth overall) at the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championship June 4-7 in Debrecen, Hungary.
A two-time USA Basketball gold medalist and captain of the victorious 2012 USA Under-17 World Championship Team, Reimer is among 54 of the nation’s top college-age players who will attend the USA Basketball National Team Trials, which will be used to select the 12-member teams that will represent the United States at either the Pan American Games (July 16-20 in Toronto, Ontario) or the World University Games (July 5-13 in Gwangju, China).
Patberg, who has been invited to USA Basketball National Team Trials for the second consecutive year, is part of a contingent of 34 players ages 19-and-under (born on or after Jan. 1, 1996) who will take part in this month’s USA Basketball Women’s Under-19 National Team Trials used to select the 12-member team that will represent the United States at the FIBA U19 World Championship July 18-26 in Chekhov, Russia. The 2015 USA U19 World Championship Team will be coached by South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, with Michigan’s Kim Barnes Arico and Louisville’s Jeff Walz serving as Staley’s assistants.
Should either Reimer or Patberg be selected for their respective final 12-member USA Women’s National Teams (which will be named on May 17 at the conclusion of the four-day trials), they would have the opportunity to contribute to an outstanding recent spate of gold medal success for Notre Dame women’s basketball, with the Fighting Irish program having produced 11 players (incoming freshmen, current players or alumna) in the past six years that have earned gold medals while representing their country.
Last summer, current Notre Dame sophomore forward Brianna Turner (Pearland, Texas/Manvel) collected the fifth USA Basketball gold medal of her career as part of the American squad that won the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Colorado Springs. In addition, two-time Notre Dame All-America guard and 2015 WNBA No. 1-overall draft pick Jewell Loyd garnered her second career USA Basketball gold medal last June as the leading scorer for the Americans at the FIBA 3x3 World Championship in Moscow, Russia.
Next season, Reimer and Turner will among four starters and 10 monogram recipients returning for a Notre Dame squad that posted a 36-3 record, advanced to the NCAA championship game for the fourth time in five seasons and its fifth consecutive NCAA Women’s Final Four, and secured its second sweep of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles in as many years of conference membership.
In addition, Patberg, the 2015 MaxPreps National High School Player of the Year, and Ogunbowale, a three-time Wisconsin Player of the Year, will join fellow McDonald’s High School All-American (and the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 McDonald’s High School All-America Game) Marina Mabrey in forming the nation’s No. 3-recruiting class.
Reimer and Patberg will be seeking to add to a remarkable run of USA Basketball success by the Fighting Irish women’s basketball team, which has produced at least one member of a USA Basketball squad for the past nine years and 11 times in the last 12 years. That streak already was extended last weekend, when incoming freshman guard Arike Ogunbowale earned her third consecutive USA Basketball 3x3 Under-18 national title and the right to represent her country as part of the USA team and go after a third consecutive 3x3 U18 gold medal (fifth overall) at the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championship June 4-7 in Debrecen, Hungary.
A two-time USA Basketball gold medalist and captain of the victorious 2012 USA Under-17 World Championship Team, Reimer is among 54 of the nation’s top college-age players who will attend the USA Basketball National Team Trials, which will be used to select the 12-member teams that will represent the United States at either the Pan American Games (July 16-20 in Toronto, Ontario) or the World University Games (July 5-13 in Gwangju, China).
Patberg, who has been invited to USA Basketball National Team Trials for the second consecutive year, is part of a contingent of 34 players ages 19-and-under (born on or after Jan. 1, 1996) who will take part in this month’s USA Basketball Women’s Under-19 National Team Trials used to select the 12-member team that will represent the United States at the FIBA U19 World Championship July 18-26 in Chekhov, Russia. The 2015 USA U19 World Championship Team will be coached by South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, with Michigan’s Kim Barnes Arico and Louisville’s Jeff Walz serving as Staley’s assistants.
Should either Reimer or Patberg be selected for their respective final 12-member USA Women’s National Teams (which will be named on May 17 at the conclusion of the four-day trials), they would have the opportunity to contribute to an outstanding recent spate of gold medal success for Notre Dame women’s basketball, with the Fighting Irish program having produced 11 players (incoming freshmen, current players or alumna) in the past six years that have earned gold medals while representing their country.
Last summer, current Notre Dame sophomore forward Brianna Turner (Pearland, Texas/Manvel) collected the fifth USA Basketball gold medal of her career as part of the American squad that won the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Colorado Springs. In addition, two-time Notre Dame All-America guard and 2015 WNBA No. 1-overall draft pick Jewell Loyd garnered her second career USA Basketball gold medal last June as the leading scorer for the Americans at the FIBA 3x3 World Championship in Moscow, Russia.
Next season, Reimer and Turner will among four starters and 10 monogram recipients returning for a Notre Dame squad that posted a 36-3 record, advanced to the NCAA championship game for the fourth time in five seasons and its fifth consecutive NCAA Women’s Final Four, and secured its second sweep of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles in as many years of conference membership.
In addition, Patberg, the 2015 MaxPreps National High School Player of the Year, and Ogunbowale, a three-time Wisconsin Player of the Year, will join fellow McDonald’s High School All-American (and the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 McDonald’s High School All-America Game) Marina Mabrey in forming the nation’s No. 3-recruiting class.
