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Gonzaga Women's Basketball

USA Basketball selects Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier for junior national team trials

Gonzaga head coach Lisa Fortier reacts to a call during the second half of the West Coast Conference Tournament championship game March 12 at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. BYU won 82-68. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
From news services

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Gonzaga head women’s basketball coach Lisa Fortier has been selected as one of four court coaches for the 2019 USA Basketball Junior National Team trials, May 16-20 at the United States Olympic Training Center.

The trials will be used to select the 2019 USA Basketball Women’s U19 World Cup and U.S. Pan American Games teams.

“The opportunity to work with USA Basketball is one that I am thrilled and honored to be a part of,” Fortier said. “The commitment, dedication and pride that comes from representing your country is something that I am truly looking forward to experiencing.”

Fortier joins Aaron Johnston (South Dakota State), Nikki McCray-Penson (Old Dominion) and DeLisha Milton-Jones (Pepperdine) as court coaches. All four were chosen by the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee for their first USA Basketball coaching assignment. Fortier, along with Johnston, McCray-Penson and Milton-Jones, will assist the USA 19 and U.S. Pan American Games coaching staffs with on-court drills and skills sessions and help coach scrimmages throughout the trials weekend.

Fortier’s coaching assignment with USA Basketball comes after one of the most impressive seasons in GU women’s basketball history. Gonzaga finished the 2018-19 season with a 29-5 mark to tie the second-highest win total in program history while advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time.

Fortier also led the Zags to their highest NCAA Tournament seed at No. 5. Gonzaga’s 27 regular-season wins set a program mark. The Bulldogs reached their highest national ranking at No. 12 in the Associated Press poll and No. 11 in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll.

The fifth-year head coach was named West Coast Conference Coach of the Year for the fourth time in five seasons, breaking her previous record of three awards in four seasons.