May 12, 2008

DEKALB, Ill.-Northern Illinois University head women's basketball coach Carol Owens will serve as head coach of the 2008 USA Women's Basketball U18 National Team that will represent the United States at the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Women, which will be held July 23-27 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, USA Basketball announced today.

Owens, who has spent the past two summers as an assistant coach with USA Basketball's U18 and U19 squads, will lead a United States squad for the first time.

"I was very honored to be an assistant and just be considered for the opportunity. I just never thought this [chance to be head coach] would come so quick," Owens said. "[Former NIU Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics] Jim Phillips really encouraged me to get involved in it, and I am glad he did.

"Anytime you are coaching young adults, I feel I have a responsibility to not see it as an experience for me, but to understand that I am there to develop young people. You want their experience to be good, and hopefully you can be a part of it."

The top four finishing teams in the 2008 zone qualifier will earn berths to compete in the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women, scheduled for July 23-August 2, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Owens spent the past two years as an assistant with USA Basketball under head coach Doug Bruno. She helped lead the 2006 USA Basketball Women's U18 National Team to a perfect 4-0 record and the gold medal at the 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship and a 9-0 mark, and the gold, in the 2007 U19 Championship for Women.

Owens, a 1990 graduate of Northern Illinois, enters her fourth season leading the Huskie women's basketball program and has compiled a 41-47 mark in three seasons. During her three seasons with NIU, the Huskies turned in their best season in five years, posting 19 wins in 2006-07 and seeing the first NIU women's basketball player, Stephanie Raymond, drafted by the WNBA.