Aug. 17, 2006

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Former UT Arlington women's basketball standout Rola Ogunoye has been selected to the Nigerian National Team and will compete in the 15th FIBA World Championships, September 12-23.

The Championship format will feature a round-robin competition in preliminary round play. The top three teams from each preliminary group advance to form two second-round groups consisting of six teams. The top four teams from those two groups will advance on to the medal round and the gold medal game will be played on September 23.

Nigeria, who qualified for the field of 16 teams after winning the 2005 FIBA Africa Championship, will compete in Group C with Russia, China and the United States. Nigeria will open competition September 12 against defending world champion USA.

"I was called by (former Houston Comets assistant coach) Kevin Cook," said Ogunoye, who is currently attending school at UT Arlington. "He remembered me from my tapes and I went to Houston for tryouts."

Ogunoye is the second all-time scoring leader at UT Arlington with 1,639 career points after lettering from 2002-05. She was named first-team all-Southland Conference following her junior and senior seasons with the Mavericks. She was a key member of the Mav squad that advanced to the NCAA Tournament after winning the SLC Postseason Tournament with a victory over Louisiana-Monroe in the championship game.

NOTES: One of Ogunoye's Nigerian teammates is former Texas State standout Mercy Okorie... The USA and Soviet Union have combined for 13 of the 14 gold medals in the history of the championships.

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