Angel McCoughtry made her return to the U.S. women's national team against her alma mater Sunday.
The former Louisville All-American scored 11 points against the Cardinals in Team USA's 97-54 exhibition victory at KFC Yum! Center. McCoughtry, a two-time gold medalist in both the Olympics and the World Cup for the Americans, played 21 minutes, going 3-for-5 from the field and 5-for-6 from the free throw line. She had three rebounds and two assists.
She is the latest top player to rejoin Team USA after missing the 2019 WNBA season. Sue Bird (knee) and Skylar Diggins-Smith (maternity leave) did that in Team USA's exhibition game at Stanford in November, and Breanna Stewart (Achilles) came back Monday against UConn. Stewart, limited to three points in that game, had 13 Sunday.
McCoughtry suffered an ACL tear in her knee during a game on Aug. 7, 2018, and missed the rest of that WNBA season. She was also out all of this past WNBA season, but has been in action this winter with her overseas squad, Dynamo Kursk, in Russia.
"The knee's feeling good," McCoughtry said. "Step by step, it's getting better, and I'm starting to feel like my old self."
McCoughtry, 33, has played all nine WNBA seasons in Atlanta, the team that drafted her No. 1 in 2009, but she is currently an unrestricted free agent.
The Dream announced Monday that they would not use the core designation on McCoughtry, which would have given them exclusive negotiating rights with her. The team added, though, that the door is still open for McCoughtry's potential return to Atlanta.