A USA Women’s All-Star Basketball team has departed for China to participate in the Four Nations international basketball tournament. The team, organized and coached by NetScouts Basketball, will play a round-robin format in three cities for nine games against national teams of China, Denmark and Poland. The team will first play three games in Wenshan, near the Vietnam border from July 17-19. They will then head to Chenzhou in Hunan Province to play three games from July 21-23 and then to Shenzhen to play from July 25-27. The team will depart from Los Angeles on July 13th and return to the United States on July 28th.
Ariel Thomas
The NetScouts Basketball USA All-Stars include: Ariel Thomas, 5’7, PG, (Oregon/Czech Republic), Keena Mays, 5’7, PG (SMU/Israel), Deanna Weaver, 5’11, G/F (Boise State), Keani Albanez, 5’10, G (Gonzaga), Alexyz Vaioletama, 6’1, F (USC), Stephanie Lee, 6’1, F (Northern Colorado), Joy Burke, 6’5, C (Arizona State/Denmark) and Cierra Warren, 6’5, C (San Diego State/WNBA/Bulgaria). The team will be coached by Ryan Johnson of Idaho State and assisted by Drew Muscatel.
Thomas was a three-year starter at Oregon and averaged 13.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 3.6 apg in her senior season. She played last season in the Czech Republic.
Mays played two years at SMU after transferring from Kansas. At SMU she was one of the top scorers in the nation averaging 21.5 points her senior season after scoring at a 18.5 clip her junior year. Last season she averaged 17.3 points in Israel and has signed on in Poland for next season.
Keena Mays
Weaver averaged 13.0 points and 5.0 rebounds in her final college season a Boise State and was named to the All-Mountain West conference first team in both her junior and senior seasons.
Albanez completed her career at Gonzaga in 2014-15 with career highs in points (13.1 pg), rebounds (3.0 pg), assists (2.4 pg) and steals (2.4 pg).
Vaioletama finished her career at USC as a 1st team All-Pac-12 selection after averaging 12.0 points and 6.9 rebounds.
Lee was named to the Big Sky Conference 1st team the past season. She averaged 16.5 points as a senior after scoring at a 19.0 clip her junior season. She’s signed to play in Germany next season.
Burke joins the USA team for a second time. She averaged a double-double last season in Denmark (13.9 ppg, 10.6 rpg) after completing her career at Arizona State. She recently has been playing for the Taiwan national team and is signed to play in Australia next season.
Cierra Warren
Warren was named to the All-Mountain West 1st team after averaging 15.4 points and 6.4 rebounds at San Diego State in 2013-14 after transferring from Louisville. In her first professional season in Bulgaria she averaged 27.0 points and 16.6 rebounds and had high games of 45 points and 22 rebounds. She joins the USA team for the second time this summer after scoring a tournament high 26 points in her final game against China.
NetScouts Basketball organizes and coaches All-Star Men’s and Women’s teams which represent the USA in international basketball competition. This enables highly successful players who have recently completed their eligibility to represent their country, get experience playing international basketball and provide an amazing cultural experience.
Media inquiries can be directed to Carl Berman at (541) 359-9653. Information on NetScouts Basketball can be obtained on their website. Detailed articles on the tour will be found on the NetScouts Basketball Blog. Email carl@netscoutbasketball.com to get on the mailing list for tour related articles, information and photos.
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