When you are one of 54 players invited to the 2015 USA Basketball women’s team trials for the Pan American Games and the World University Games, it’s an honor.
When you come so close to representing your country, but your dreams fall short, it’s heartache.
For Freeland’s Tori Jankoska, her emotions were summed up in one simple text.
How was the experience?
“It was great,” Jankoska said.
The tryouts were May 14-17 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
USA Basketball will pick two 12-player teams, with one playing in the Pan Am Games and the other in the World University Games.
Jankoska, who just finished her sophomore season with Michigan State University, was joined by her Spartans teammate, Aerial Powers, for the tryout.
Jankoska just missed making the team, while Powers will represent the USA this summer at the July 4-13 World University Games in in Gwangju, South Korea.
Maryland’s Brionna Jones will join Powers as the only two players from the Big Ten on the University Games team. The Terrapins’ Shatori Walker-Kimbrough was named to the Pan American Games roster. Another Big Ten connection is that Northwestern’s head coach Joe McKeown will lead the World University Games squad.
Powers is the first MSU women’s hoops player to represent the United States since Allyssa DeHaan played on the gold-medal winning FIBA U-19 World Championship team in 2007.
“I heard my name, and it was like sparks were flying,” Powers said in a press release about her selection. “It is crazy because I didn’t feel like I had the best few days. I was up and down, but I tried my hardest to do other things if something was not working.”
Jankoska, who has grown into a very solid two-way player over the last two years, said she was extremely grateful just to be invited to the tryout. “The invite was definitely something I wasn’t planning for,” she said. “I mean, I have wanted to play college basketball ever since I was little, and now all of the hard work is starting to pay off. In high school, you have that goal to get to college, and now in college you take your game to new heights. Basketball has taken me to places I never envisioned I would go.”
Jankoska and Powers were both deserving of the invitation. This season, Powers set MSU’s single-season record for points, with 678, and for rebounds, with 375.
Jankoska was named to the Big Ten’s second team, averaging 17.5 points a game, fifth-most in the Big Ten. In assists, she led MSU and was 11th in the Big Ten, averaging 3.9 per game. She scored 543 points as a sophomore, the fourth-most in MSU history. Her 135 free throws made were second on the MSU career list.
Since stepping onto MSU’s campus two years ago, Jankoska has seen her game evolve from that of a slasher / 3-point threat to that of a more well-rounded basketball player on both ends of the court. The transition hasn’t been easy, but in the long run, the hard work pays off.
“As a freshman, you come in with high expectations and you learn very quick that everyone is at a similar level and nothing comes easy,” Jankoska said. “You have to put in the work in order to move forward. We had a tremendous amount of injuries this season, and that hurt us. Whenever you lose, it weighs heavy on your mind, but you continue to fight through adversity the best way you can.”
You can bet that Jankoska will take her experience at the the USA tryout with her in the coming season ,and it will make reaching her goals even more possible. “Every time you step on the court, you realize nothing comes easy,” she said. “You have to continue to push through the good and the bad.”