Caitlin Clark, Azzi Fudd highlight U19 World Cup invitees

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The trials for the USA Women’s U19 World Cup team will take place from May 14 to May 16 at Metro State University in Denver.

Here are the 27 players who will attend the trials, as announced by USA Basketball on Wednesday:

• Lauren Betts (Grandview H.S./ Centennial, Colo.)

• Sonia Citron (The Ursuline School/ Scarsdale, N.Y.)

• Caitlin Clark (Iowa/ West Des Moines, Iowa)

• Amari DeBerry (Williamsville South H.S./ Buffalo, N.Y.

• Brooke Demetre (Mater Del H.S./ Foothill Ranch, Calif.)

• Lexi Donarski (Iowa State/ La Crosse, Wis.)

• Gabby Elliott (Clemson/ Detroit, Mich.)

• Sania Feagin (Forest Park H.S./ Ellenwood, Ga.)

• Azzi Fudd (St. John’s College H.S (D.C.)/ Arlington, Va.)

• Hannah Gusters (LSU/ DeSoto, Texas)

• Diamond Johnson (NC State/ Phildelphia, Pa.)

• Raven Johnson (Westlake H.S./ Atlanta, Ga.)

• JerKaila Jordan (Mississippi State/ New Orleans, La.)

• Greta Kampschroeder (Naperville North H.S./ Naperville, Ill.)

• Madison Layden (Purdue/ Kokomo, Ind.)

• Jordyn Merritt (Florida/ Plano, Texas)

• Olivia Miles (Notre Dame/ Phillipsburg, Pa.)

• Ugonne Onyiah (California/ Eastvale, Calif.)

• Te-Hina Paopao (Oregon/ Oceanside, Calif.)

• Ayanna Patterson (Homestead H.S./ Fort Wayne, Ind.)

• Angel Reese (Maryland/ Baltimore, Md.)

• Jewel Spear (Wake Forest/ The Colony, Texas)

• Payton Verhulst (Bishop Meige H.S./ DeSoto, Kan.)

• Talia von Oelhoffen (Oregon State/ Pasco, Wash.)

• Sakima Walker (Rutgers/ Columbus, Ohio)

• Lauren Ware (Arizona/ Bismarck, N.D.)

• Jersey Wolfenbarger (Northside H.S./ Fort Smith, Ark.)

The invitees have nine USA Basketball gold medals between them with five players have won one and two (Clark and Fudd) having won two.

A total of 12 players will make the final roster and the team will be coached by UCLA’s Cori Close as well as assistants Aaron Johnston (South Dakota State) and Joni Taylor (Georgia).

Clark was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year this past season and led the nation in scoring with 26.6 points per game. She also averaged 5.9 rebounds and 7.3 assists.

Donarski was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year after posting 13 points per contest. Johnson and Paopao were key contributors for Rutgers and Oregon, respectively.

Fudd is the No. 1 Hoop Gurlz recruit in the Class of 2021 and is headed to UConn. Johnson (South Carolina), Feagin (South Carolina), Wolfenbarger (Arkansas) and Miles (Notre Dame) are the No. 2, 4, 7 and 8 recruits, respectively. Miles enrolled at Notre Dame early and played in six games in 2020-21, averaging 9.3 points and 3.5 assists.

Jennifer Rizzotti, the chair of the selection committee for the trials, had the following to say about the list of invitees:

“This is definitely a unique year for our committee after not getting to evaluate this age group of players in last summer’s U18 trials and competition. We do, however, feel confident that we’ve invited a very talented, diverse and exciting group of players. We’ve identified both some of the best college freshmen that make the age cut-off as well as some of the best high school players ready to make their mark. 

“As we saw in college basketball this season, the young players in our country are fierce and competitive.  We are always looking for great talent, but we also need to find the players who understand what it means to put on a USA jersey and play for something bigger than themselves. That’s the first lesson in learning what it takes to be an Olympian. The FIBA U19 World Cup is one of the hardest competitions to win so our goal is to give Cori Close and her staff a deep, balanced and well-equipped team to represent the USA this summer.”

The FIBA U19 World Cup is going to be from Aug. 7 to Aug. 15 in Debrecen, Hungary.