USA Basketball invited 30 players to training camp for the women's U19 World Cup team, including Maori Davenport and Aijha Blackwell. Both had issues with their high school eligibility this past season after they mistakenly received and cashed checks from USA Basketball for competing in an event last summer in Mexico.
Davenport's battle with the Alabama High School Athletic Association got widespread attention earlier this year; even some NBA players weighed in on social media to support her. She finally got to play after her parents filed a lawsuit and a judge granted a temporary motion. She will be going to Rutgers to play this fall. Blackwell changed high schools in St. Louis but didn't get to compete during the prep season. She is headed to Missouri.
Blackwell (No. 8) and Davenport (No. 15) are among 10 high school seniors in the ESPN HoopGurlz 2019 rankings that are invited to the training camp May 16-19 in Colorado Springs. That also includes Stanford's No. 1-ranked Haley Jones and No. 23 Fran Belibi, the dunking sensation.
Joining them are No. 3 Aliyah Boston and No. 7 Zia Cooke (both headed to South Carolina), No. 18 Diamond Miller (Maryland), No. 20 Celeste Taylor (Texas), No. 22 Charisma Osborne (UCLA) and No. 33 Aubrey Griffin (UConn).
From the prep junior class are HoopGurlz 2020's top four ranked players: Paige Bueckers (committed to UConn), Cameron Brink (committed to Stanford), Hailey Van Lith and Caitlin Clark, neither of whom has committed yet.
Also invited are 16 collegians who just finished their first season, including espnW national freshman of the year Rhyne Howard of Kentucky, and Aquira DeCosta, Queen Egbo and NaLyssa Smith of national champion Baylor.
They're joined by Maryland's Shakira Austin; Stanford's Jenna Brown; Texas Tech's Chrislyn Carr; Michigan State's Nia Clouden; NC State's Elissa Cunane; Louisville's Elizabeth Dixon, Michigan's Naz Hillmon-Baker, Iowa State's Ashley Joens, Notre Dame's Jordan Dixon and Abby Prohaska, BYU's Shaylee Gonzales, and Oklahoma's Taylor Robertson.
The group will be cut to 12, followed by another training camp and the competition in Bangkok, Thailand, from July 20-28. The team will be coached by Louisville's Jeff Walz, and his assistants are UCLA's Cori Close and Delaware's Natasha Adair.