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USA Basketball welcomes 30 players to U19 trials

By Kim Doss

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - MAY 25: Fran Belibi #250 of Centennial, Co. looks to shoot while participating in tryouts for the 2018 USA Basketball Women's U17 World Cup Team on May 25, 2018 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Finalists for the team will be announced on May 28 and will remain in Colorado Springs for training camp through May 30. (Photo by Marc Piscotty/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - MAY 25: Fran Belibi #250 of Centennial, Co. looks to shoot while participating in tryouts for the 2018 USA Basketball Women's U17 World Cup Team on May 25, 2018 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Finalists for the team will be announced on May 28 and will remain in Colorado Springs for training camp through May 30. (Photo by Marc Piscotty/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The list includes 19 previous gold-medal winners

With the U19 World Cup competition less than three months away, the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee has announced the 30 players who will take part in the 2019 USA Women’s U19 World Cup Team trials. The USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee, which is led by George Washington University head coach Jenn Rizzotti, invited a group that includes 19 previous gold medal winners for Team USA.

Included in the group of 30 athletes are 16 who will be sophomores in college next season, 10 who just graduated from high school, and four who will be high school seniors during the 2019-20 season. They will compete to be named to the 12-member team during the four-day trials, which will be kick off on May 16  in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

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Those who make the team will reconvene for training camp from July 5-19 under the leadership of head coach Jeff Walz of Louisville. Natasha Adair of Delaware and Cori Close of UCLA will serve as his assistants.

“I’m looking forward to working with all these talented athletes at the USA U19 World Cup Team trials,” Walz was quoted in the press release from USA Basketball. “It’s an amazing group of athletes, and it’s going to be hard for the committee to pick just 12 for this team. We have a group of kids who are versatile. We have so much talent at every position. It will be an exciting weekend of basketball, and I can’t wait to get started.”

The 12 athletes — all of whom must have been born no earlier than January 1, 2000 — will travel to Bangkok, Thailand for the competition. The tournament will run from July 20-28.

The rising college sophomores vying for a spot include five who played in last month’s NCAA National Championship game, led by three from the National Champion Baylor Lady Bears. The entire list consists of Shakira Austin (Maryland), Jenna Brown (Stanford), Chrislyn Carr (Texas Tech), Nia Clouden (Michigan State), Elissa Cunane (North Carolina State),  Aquira DeCosta (Baylor), Elizabeth Dixon (Louisville), Queen Egbo (Baylor), Shalylee Gonzales (BYU), Naz Hillmon-Baker (Michigan), Rhyne Howard (Kentucky), Ashley Joens (Iowa State), Jordan Nixon (Notre Dame), Abby Prohaska (Notre Dame), Taylor Robertson (Oklahoma) and Nalyssa Smith (Baylor).

The ten players who will be moving on to college in the fall include two who are on their way to Stanford and another pair planning to play for South Carolina. They are Francesca Belibi (Regis H.S./Stanford),  Aijha Blackwell (Cardinal Ritter/Missouri), Aliyah Boston (Worcester Academy/South Carolina), Zia Cooke (Rogers H.S./South Carolina), Maori Davenport (Charles Henderson H.S./Rutgers), Aubrey Griffin (Ossining H.S./Connecticut), Haley Jones (Archbishop Mitty H.S./Stanford), Diamond Miller (Franklin H.S./Maryland), Charisma Osborne
(Windward School/UCLA), and Celeste Taylor (Long Island Lutheran/Texas).

Another four will complete their senior years in high school next year. They are Cameron Brink (Southridge H.S./Beaverton, OR), who has given her verbal commitment to Stanford; Paige Bueckers (Hopkins H.S./Eden Prairie, MN), who plans to attend Connecticut in 2020; Caitlin Clark (Dowling Catholic/West Des Moines, IA), who hasn’t made her college decision yet, and; Hailey Van Lith (Cashmere H.S./Wenatchee, WA), who is also undeclared.

Howard, Davenport, Blackwell, Brown, Hillmon-Baker, Joens and Smith all competed for Team USA in the 2018 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, where they won a gold medal. Howard was the MVP of that tournament and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Davenport. That victory qualified Team USA for the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup.

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