As seniors at Duke, women's basketball stars Alana Beard and Iciss Tillis are accustomed to playing against some of the toughest competition in the country. This summer, though, the two Wooden Preseason All Americans joined forces with their collegiate counterparts on a pair of ultra-talented 12-member USA basketball squads.
Beard--a first-team All-America selection in 2003--led the USA Young Women's National Team to a gold medal at the FIBA World Championships for Young Women in Sibenik, Croatia, while Tillis helped the USA Women's Pan American Games Team win a silver medal in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic.
"It was an awesome experience," Beard said. "Anytime you are playing for your country you're always going to be proud."
The 5-foot-11 guard started all eight of the team's games and, with an average of 9.3 points per contest, was part of a balanced scoring attack on a roster that read as a who's who of women's college basketball. Nine of the 12 players were 2004 Wooden Preseason All Americans, yet Beard still played a team-high 26.3 minutes per game.
"Everyone on the team contributed in their own way," she said. "That's why we did so well. It was such a talented team, but no one tried to do too much."
In the gold-medal contest Aug. 3rd against Brazil (6-2), Beard contributed 12 points and six rebounds, as the United States (7-1) avenged its only loss in the tournament with a 71-55 victory. Louisiana State sophomore Seimone Augustus and Arizona sophomore Shawntinice Polk led the squad in scoring with 18 and 14 points, respectively.
Augustus, a former Blue Devil recruit, was the United States' high scorer with 10.6 points per game while shooting over 59 percent from the field. Her efforts earned her tournament MVP honors, while Beard and Georgia senior Christi Thomas were named to the All-FIBA World Championship for Young Women Team.
"It was an honor to be named to an all-tournament world team, but I couldn't have done it without my teammates," Beard said of her All-FIBA status. "It was a total team effort in everything that we did."
After finishing third in its round-robin group based on point differential and an early 73-60 loss to Brazil, the United States defeated Australia (6-2) 80-56 in the quarterfinals and downed France (6-2) 58-47 to set up the rematch.
In the quarterfinals, Beard met current Duke teammate Jessica Foley, a sophomore from Wodonga, Victoria Australia. Foley played only one minute in the contest and averaged two points in 5.6 minutes per game during the tournament.
Because the USA Young Women's National Team was limited to players born on or after Jan. 1, 1982, Beard's teammate Tillis was not eligible to join her.
However, Tillis was chosen for the formidable Pan American games squad, which featured seven Wooden Preseason All Americans.
The United States was looking to capture its seventh gold medal in women's basketball but its first since 1985 in the multi-sport competition held every four years in the year preceding the summer Olympics.
Instead, team USA (5-2) came away with its fourth silver medal, as succumbed to poor shooting and fell to defending champion Cuba (6-1) 75-64 in the finals.
Over the team's seven games, Tillis averaged a moderate five points and 2.4 rebounds in 10.4 minutes of play.
However, the Tulsa, Okla. native provided a crucial fourth-quarter boost in the team's second preliminary round game against Canada. The United States women had lost their first contest against Cuba and were in danger of being eliminated from medal contention before coming away with a hard-fought 56-53 win over the Canadians.
"I tried to give us a lift in the fourth quarter and was able to get a lot of tips and rebounds," Tillis said after team USA's victory. "I knew we needed this win."
Tillis' effort helped the United States advance to the medal round, where it defeated third-place Brazil (5-2) 75-69 in overtime before falling for a second time to the Cubans.
Both Tillis and Beard were USA Basketball veterans, as Tillis played on the 1998 USA World Youth Games Team and Beard was part of the 2000 and 2001 Junior World Championship teams.
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