Oklahoma Freshman Aaliyah Chavez Invited to U19 National Team Trials

By OU Media Relations and USA Basketball

Aaliyah Chavez, an incoming freshman on the Oklahoma women’s basketball team, has been invited to participate in the 2025 USA Women’s U19 National Team Trials later this month.

Chavez is one of 27 athletes competing for a spot on the 12-player roster that will represent the United States at the 2025 FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup, held July 12–20 in Brno, Czechia.

Chavez was the No. 1 prospect in the 2025 class according to Prospects Nation, USA Today, 247 Sports and others. She swept National Player of the Year honors from Gatorade, Naismith, MaxPreps, and Sports Illustrated, was a McDonald’s All-American, and earned MVP honors at the Jordan Brand Classic. 

Last season, she averaged 34.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.7 steals and 1.2 blocks per game for Monterey High School. 

She led the plainsmen to a 37-5 record and the 5A Division II state championship in Texas. 

This marks her second USA Basketball appearance in 2025, having previously represented the United States at the Nike Hoop Summit in April.

“On behalf of the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee, I am excited to announce this special group of athletes who will compete for their spot on the 2025 USA Women’s U19 National Team,” said Cori Close, USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee chair. “These young women have a wealth of experience with USA Basketball and I can’t wait to see what they bring to the trials. The FIBA Women’s U19 World Cup always provides great competition and challenges, and we look forward to selecting an outstanding roster and representing this country to the best of our ability this summer.”

Five incoming college sophomores will compete in trials, including Lanie Grant, Kayleigh Heckel, Jordan Lee, Alivia McGill and Zania Socka. They will be joined by incoming freshmen Sienna Betts, Aaliyah Crump, Jasmine ‘Jazzy’ Davidson, Madison Francis, ZaKiyah Johnson, Emilee Skinner, Hailee Swain and Chavez.

The class of 2026 will be represented by Kelsi Andrews, Addison Bjorn, Autumn Fleary, Bella Flemings, Maddyn Greenway, Saniyah Hall, Kate Harpring, Jayla ‘Jordyn’ Jackson, Trinity Jones, Jerzy Robinson, Oumou ‘Mimi’ Thiero and Lilly Williams.

De’Andra Minor and Sydney Douglas will represent the classes of 2027 and 2028, respectively.

The group features 26 athletes with past USA Basketball experience, 17 of whom have combined for 23 gold medals.

Andrews, Bjorn, Grant, Robinson and Swain are two-time gold medalists having competed together at the 2023 FIBA U16 Women’s AmeriCup and 2024 FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup. Crump, Jackson and Jones were all members of the 2023 U16 squad, with Skinner competing with the 2024 U17 team.

Seven members of the USA’s gold-medal winning team at the 2024 FIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup will compete in trials, including Betts, Davidson, Francis, Heckel, Johnson, Lee and McGill.

Davidson and Hall are gold medalists at the 2024 FIBA 3x3 U18 Women’s World Cup.

As , coaches for the U19 team include Teri Moren (Indiana University), Jose Fernandez (University of South Florida) and Niele Ivey (University of Notre Dame). The trio led the 2024 USA Women’s U18 to gold at the FIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup last summer.

Court coaches for trials will be Carley Thibault-DuDonis and Aaron Roussell, both of whom will work with USA Basketball for the first time. Thibault-DuDonis has been the head women’s coach at Fairfield University since 2022, leading her team to back-to-back MAAC regular season and tournament championships and a pair of NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament appearances. Her father, Mike, a longtime WNBA coach and executive,won a pair of gold medals as a USA Basketball assistant coach at the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup and 2008 and 2024 Olympic Games.

Roussell, the head coach at the University of Richmond since 2019, is the 2025 ECAC Coach of the Year and two-time back Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 2024 and 2025. Over the last two seasons, the Spiders have a combined 33-3 conference record. In April, Richmond advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.

In Brno, USA Basketball will compete in Group A alongside Israel, Hungary and Korea. The red, white and blue will tip off vs. Korea on July 12 before taking on Hungary the following day, both at 1:15 p.m. CT. Group play concludes against Israel on July 15 at 7:30 a.m. CT.

The FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup, which was launched in 1985, features the world's top 16 U19 national teams who qualify based on their finishes the previous year at the biennial U18 zone championships (USA won gold at the 2024 FIBA U18 Women’s World Cup). The USA has won the gold medal in nine of the last 10 competitions, including the last three.