The U.S. women’s basketball national team is back in action beginning this weekend as the squad plays in the FIBA AmeriCup in Santiago, Chile.
Joining Team USA and host Chile in the 10-team field are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
It’s the 18th edition of the AmeriCup, a traditional 5-on-5 competition that has existed since 1993. The games are used as a qualifying event for the FIBA Women’s World Cup, which will be played in Berlin, Germany in 2026.
While the AmeriCup is a senior women’s national team event, the WNBA does not take a break during its play. And so, Team USA — thanks to its luxury of depth and talent — often sends a younger, developmental team to the tournament composed of college players. In 2023 for example, the Americans won a silver medal behind the play of Angel Reese, Lauren Betts and Deja Kelly. In 2021, they captured the gold with a squad powered by Rhyne Howard, Aliyah Boston and Elissa Cunane.
This year’s team is similar in that it’s headlined by some of the biggest stars in women’s college basketball, including Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson, TCU’s Olivia Miles and Madison Booker of Texas.
For Hidalgo and Miles, the tournament reunites the former backcourt mates for the Fighting Irish. It’s the first time fans will see them together since a seemingly tense exchange in South Bend during a WNBA preseason game.
“This is a business trip,” Booker told The Next. “What’s on everybody’s mind here is winning gold.”
Also on the roster are rising sophomore standouts like South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards and Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes, the latter of whom won the USBWA Tamika Catchings Award as national freshman of the year this past season. Blakes twice scored north of 50 points in a pair of wins for the Commodores as a rookie.
The roster also features Iowa State standout Audi Crooks, Iowa senior Hannah Stuelke, Oklahoma All-American Raegan Beers, UCLA sharpshooter Gianna Kneepkens, USC’s Kennedy Smith and Michigan State’s Grace VanSlooten.
While the Americans will have a young team, they’ll be facing off against rosters made up of mostly seasoned veterans who have experience playing in Olympics, World Cups and other international competitions. Chicago Sky center Kamilla Cardoso and Indiana Fever center Damiris Dantas, for example, will play for Brazil. Canada’s team — coached by Nell Fortner — will feature several noteworthy current college players as well, including Michigan’s Syla Swords and BYU’s Delaney Gibb, as well as players who recently wrapped up their collegiate eligibility like Gonzaga’s Yvonne Ejim.
Coaching Team USA is Kara Lawson, who is coming off her fifth season guiding the Duke Blue Devils. Duke won the ACC Tournament and made the Elite Eight for the first time since 2013 this past season. Lawson, 44, has won Olympic gold medals with Team USA as a player (2008), assistant coach (2024) and head coach of the 3×3 team in 2021. Because of her combination of experience, resume and success, she could be a candidate to lead the senior national team at a premier event like the Olympics in the future.
Oklahoma’s Jennie Baranczyk and Old Dominion’s DeLisha Milton-Jones are Lawson’s assistants for the tournament. Like Lawson, Milton-Jones won an Olympic gold medal playing in 2008.
“We have players that have great versatility, which is important. We have players that are great competitors, which I like a lot as a characteristic,” Lawson said recently via Zoom. “I think our practices have been focused. We’ve been having conversations about how difficult it is to win internationally, how hard you have to play, and certainly how physical the games are going to be down there. We understand we’re a college group going to play in a professional setting… We’re going to have to play at a higher level physically than we do at the NCAA level.”
Team USA is in Group B and will face Chile on June 28 to open the tournament. The Americans will then take on Colombia (June 29), Puerto Rico (June 30) and Mexico (July 2). Games can be watched on FIBA’s streaming service. The tournament will end on Sunday, July 6.
