By Staff
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the fourth time in six years, and the sixth time overall, a Notre Dame women's basketball player will compete for the United States on the international stage, as incoming freshman guard Skylar Diggins (South Bend, Ind./Washington) was named to the final 12-member United States U19 World Championship Team, it was announced Tuesday afternoon by USA Basketball.
Diggins will be the first Fighting Irish cager to play for her country since current senior guard Melissa Lechlitner (Mishawaka, Ind./South Bend St. Joseph's) struck gold with the 2007 U19 World Championship Team in Slovakia, becoming the first South Bend-area female to earn a gold medal in an international basketball competition.
Diggins is scheduled to leave Thursday morning for Colorado Springs, Colo., where she will join up with her U19 teammates at the U.S. Olympic Training Center for a week-long training session July 9-16. The squad then will depart for the FIBA U19 World Championships, scheduled for July 23-Aug. 2 in Bangkok, Thailand.
"I feel so incredibly blessed to have this chance to not only play for my country and wear that 'USA' jersey, but also to represent both the city of South Bend and the University of Notre Dame," Diggins said. "As a team, it's our responsibility to live up to the tradition of success that was set by those that went before us. We have a lot of work to do before we even get to Thailand, because we know we're going to get every other country's best effort, but I'm really excited to get out to Colorado and get started."
"This is such a tremendous honor and a great opportunity for Skylar," Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said. "To represent your country in an international competition is something not very many people get to do, but she has earned it through her hard work, focus and dedication to making everyone around her better. She's the consummate teammate and I have no doubt that she and the rest of Team USA will bring home the gold next month."
McGraw may have even more of a vested interest in the success of this year's United States U19 World Championship Team, as the squad will be coached by Northern Illinois skipper (and former Notre Dame aide) Carol Owens, with Iowa State's Bill Fennelly (another former Irish assistant) and Florida's Amanda Butler serving on Owens' staff.
Diggins is no stranger to USA Basketball, having earned gold medals at the 2007 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival in Colorado Springs, as well as the 2008 FIBA U18 Americas Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the latter event, she started all five games for the Owens-led United States squad, which went 5-0 and successfully qualified for this year's U19 World Championship. During the U18 Americas tourney, Diggins averaged 10.8 ppg. (second on team), 3.2 rpg., 3.6 apg. (first on team) and 2.0 spg. (tied-first on team). She also ranked among the top 10 in the entire tournament in scoring (10th), field goal percentage (7th – .500), assists (2nd), steals (tied-8th) and assist/turnover ratio (2nd – 2.00).
At the '07 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival, Diggins helped the USA White team to a 5-0 record, averaging 8.6 ppg., 5.0 rpg., 3.2 apg., and 2.0 spg., during the round-robin tournament. What's more, among all 2007 Festival participants, she ranked second in assist/turnover ratio (1.45), fourth in assists (16), tied for eighth in blocks (4) and tied for 10th in steals (10).
Diggins recently completed a magnificent career at Washington High School in South Bend, capped off with Most Valuable Player honors at both the McDonald's High School All-America Game and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) High School All-America Game – only former Tennessee and current Detroit Shock (WNBA) guard Alexis Hornbuckle had previously won both MVP awards.
She also was the consensus 2009 national high school player of the year, earning top billing from Gatorade, the Atlanta Tipoff Club (which presents the Naismith National High School Player of the Year award), ESPN Hoopgurlz and MaxPreps.