@MizzouWBB’s Cunningham Invited to USA Basketball Women’s U23 National Team Training Camp
7/11/2017 11:33:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Cunningham is one of 40 elite collegiate athletes to receive an invite
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou Women's Basketball junior Sophie Cunningham (Columbia, Mo.) has accepted an invitation to attend the 2017 USA Basketball Women's U23 National Team Training Camp, which will take place July 31-Aug. 4 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Invitations were issued by the USA Basketball Women's Junior National Team Committee.
"We are very excited about the group of players coming out to Colorado Springs for the U23 training camp," said Jennifer Rizzotti, chair of the USA Basketball Women's Junior National Team Committee and head coach at George Washington University. "We believe they represent the best players returning to college basketball this coming season. There is depth at every position, and we anticipate a highly competitive camp. It's important to recognize the young talent that has potential to be in the USA National Team pool in a few years. They will get invaluable experience during those five days and learn from some of the best on what it takes to progress to the highest levels of women's basketball."
Out of the 40 elite collegiate athletes invited, a 12-member team will be selected on Aug. 4. The team will represent the USA in an inaugural U23 Four Nations Tournament for college-aged women this summer. Players selected to the team will continue training at the Olympic Training Center through Aug. 7 before taking off to Tokyo. Athletes eligible for the squad must be U.S. citizens who are 23 years old or younger and currently are freshmen, sophomores or juniors in college.
The 2017 U23 Four Nations, which includes the USA, Australia, Canada and Japan, will be a round-robin tournament played Aug. 12-15 in Tokyo.
"I am so blessed to have this opportunity to compete at one of the highest levels of women's basketball," Cunningham said. "I'm excited to represent our program, Mizzou and the Columbia community and give it my all at training camp."
Cunningham earned Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention recognition and First Team All-SEC honors after leading Mizzou to 22 wins, a third-place finish in the Southeastern Conference and a second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time since 1985 and 1986. She steered Mizzou to wins in back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history.
Cunningham averaged a team-best 17.5 points per game, which ranked fourth in the SEC. The sophomore guard ended the regular season with four consecutive 20-point performances, racking up a pair of National Player of the Week awards. Cunningham finished with 10 20-point performances in 2016-17 and has 20 such outings in only 63 career games. She scored at least 30 points on three different occasions during her sophomore campaign, one of just two players in the SEC to do so in league play.
For all the latest on Mizzou Women's Basketball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @MizzouWBB.
