On Oct. 21-25, Tavelyn James, senior guard for Eastern Michigan’s women’s basketball team, will travel to Guadalajara, Mexico, where she will play with the USA team in the Pan American Games.
James is the first player from EMU to participate in the event and is also the first Mid-American Conference student-athlete to be selected as a member of the team’s roster.
Including James, 13 women were selected by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Committee to represent in the event.
The 2011 USA Women’s Pan American Games Team includes seven players who are set to graduate from college in 2012, three members of the junior class who will graduate in 2013 and one college sophomore. There is also Breanna Stewart, who has one year of high school remaining before she is expected to head to the University of Connecticut in the fall of 2012, where she has verbally committed to attend.
Coach Ceal Barry, along with assistant coaches Jennifer Gillom and Debbie Ryan, will lead the team.
Team USA goes into the tournament looking to defend its 2007 Pan American Games gold medal. It has won seven of 14 gold medals, as well as four silver and two bronze medals and holds a 72-12 overall record.
Training camp begins Oct.15 in Houston. The team will head to Guadalajara Oct. 18, where it will continue practices until the competition starts Oct. 21.
