Leah Macy (USA Basketball Photo)
Two of the nation’s top 2025 recruits are Kentuckians ZaKiyah Johnson of Sacred Heart and Leah Macy of Bethlehem.
Johnson has played on three straight state championship teams and has college offers from almost every major team nationally. Macy has been part of two regional championship teams and had 40 scholarship offers before recently signing with Notre Dame.
Both are top 10 players nationally and certainly proved why at the USA Basketball Women’s U18 National Team training camp in Colorado Springs, Colo., last week.
USA Basketball announced late Saturday that Macy and Johnson were two of 12 players picked from the 26 trial participants that will compete at theFIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup from June 17-23 in Bucaramanga, Colombia. The team will reconvene for training camp in Colorado Springs on June 8.
Other team members selected were Sienna Betts, Jasmine Davidson, Joyce Edwards, Madison Francis, Kayleigh Heckel, Jordan Lee, Alivia McGill, Arianna Roberson, Kennedy Smith and Sarah Strong.
Edwards won gold last summer at the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup. Strong has a pair of gold medals from the 2022 and 2023 FIBA 3×3 U18 Women’s World Cups. Edwards, Lee, Roberson, Smith and Strong represented the USA at the 2024 Nike Hoop Summit.
Teri Moren (Indiana University) is the USA’s head coach. Her assistants are Jose Fernandez (University of South Florida) and Niele Ivey (University of Notre Dame).
The United States drew into Group B with Brazil, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The USA play June 17 versus Brazil at 4:10 p.m. ET followed by games against Puerto Rico and Mexico on June 18 (4:10 p.m. ET) and 19 (1:40 p.m. ET).
The USA women own 11 of 13 gold U18 gold medals and have won 10 straight dating back to 2000. The top four teams will earn a berth to the 2025 FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup.
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