Texas Longhorns' Madison Booker Adds Another Gold for Team USA

It’s offseason for the Texas Longhorns women’s basketball program, but that doesn’t mean that all of its players have fallen into more under-the-radar routines.

In fact, junior forward Madison Booker has actually spent the summer competing for Team USA in the FIBA Women's AmeriCup, which began on June 28 and came to a close on July 6.

Booker and Team USA acquired a gold medal for their efforts in the tournament, defeating Brazil 92-84 in the championship game. 

Booker and Team USA's championship performance

This marks Booker’s fourth gold medal throughout her career with Team USA. The Longhorns' star logged seven points and five rebounds in the championship game, helping the team come back from a two-point deficit at halftime. 

Led by a 27-point, six-rebound and one-assist performance by Mikayla Blakes, a sophomore guard at Vanderbilt, Team USA fought hard for their comeback win for the gold.  

"What a performance by our team," US head coach Kara Lawson said. "We knew it was going to be just a tough, physical game. It was what we expected. Brazil is a wonderful team and their power they have in their front court gave us some challenges, and our team just continued to fight."

This year’s competition included 10 teams, all representing countries within North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America.

Members of each team traveled to Santiago, Chile, for this year’s Americup. Chile also hosted in 2007, making this their second time holding the competition. 

What the win means for both Team USA and Booker

Winning this competition results in direct qualification for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 in Germany and a guaranteed opportunity to participate in the World Cup Qualifying Tournaments, which will take place in March 2026. The top six teams also qualify for the World Cup Qualifying Tournaments next year.

Booker’s experience representing Team USA in these games could help her continued development as this college season approaches. She averaged 7.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists throughout the tournament, with a tournament high of 13 points in the Quarterfinals against the Dominican Republic. 

With this tournament in the rearview, Booker will likely shift gears towards her upcoming season with the Longhorns. After being knocked out of the NCAA tournament by South Carolina in the semifinals last season, expectations for this year’s Texas team are high. 

She finished her sophomore season as the SEC Player of the Year, a First Team All-American according to the Associated Press and the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year.

What her junior season has to hold remains untold, but Booker will be a player in burnt orange to keep an eye on this upcoming season.