Kizer’s summer job: Grab gold for Team USA

After nearly three months of waiting to see whether she would be a part of USA Basketball's World University Team, Terrapin women's basketball center Lynetta Kizer learned her fate Wednesday afternoon.

Kizer was one of 12 players named to the final Team USA roster yesterday, which will travel to China to compete in the 2011 World University Games beginning Aug. 14.

"It's just an honor to finally put the USA jersey back on," Kizer said. "With the level of competition out here, to be able to hear my name called and to have my coach tell me that I made the team with great athletes and great players … it's an honor."

Kizer began training for the games in early May, when she was one of 35 college players from across the nation to convene at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., to prepare for the games. After being one of 14 players invited to return for a final training period in late July, Kizer was officially named to the final roster Wednesday.

It will be Kizer's first international competition since the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Argentina, where she helped Team USA to a gold medal.

"It's a tremendous honor for her to be selected," Terrapin women's basketball coach Brenda Frese said. "When you're going against different competition, teams from different countries, different styles of play, hostile environments, you name it, it can do nothing but help you improve as a player."

While playing for Team USA is an honor, it's also a valuable opportunity for Kizer to develop and improve as a basketball player. After playing with the nation's top players and competing against some of the top athletes in the world, her upcoming senior season with the Terps might not seem quite as difficult.

"My coach told me my season starts now," Kizer said. "Making this team and having the opportunity to play against this level of competition in China is going to be a great experience for me."

Kizer is the ACC's lone representative on the team, which also features some of the sport's biggest amateur stars, such as Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins, Stanford's Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Delaware's Elena Delle Donne, on its final roster.

The U.S. will look to defend its 2009 gold medal when the tournament begins this month. It's been three years since Kizer donned a USA jersey, but now that she's back on the team, her goals for Team USA are simple.

"Represent our country," Kizer said. "Do everything we can to bring back the gold."

vitale@umdbk.com