By R.L. Bynum

Lanie Grant has already helped her country win gold in international competition twice and will try out for the chance to do it again.

Grant, a 5–9 rising sophomore guard for North Carolina, is one of 27 players expected to participate in tryouts in Colorado Springs, Colo., beginning June 18 for the American team that will compete in the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup on July 12–20 in Brno, Czechia.

Grant is one of five rising sophomores, along with USC’s Kaleigh Heckel, Texas’ Jordan Lee, Florida’s Aliva McGill and UCLA’s Zania Soca who will try out.

Invitees include eight rising freshmen — UCLA’s Sienna Betts, Oklahoma’s Aaliyah Chavez, Texas’ Aaliyah Crump, USC’s Jasmine ‘Jazzy’ Davidson, Mississippi State’s Madison Francis, LSU’s ZaKiyah Johnson, Duke’s Emilee Skinner and Stanford’s Hailee Swain — and 13 members of the high school class of 2026: 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. Class of 2027 player De’Andra Minor and Class of 2028 player Sydney Douglas will also try out.

Grant, Andrews, Bjorn, 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, while Skinner competed with the 2024 U17 team.

Grant averaged 9.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists at the 2024 World Cup after averaging 13.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists in the 2023 AmeriCup.

In 34 games last season for UNC as a freshman, including two starts, Grant averaged 7.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists while shooting 36.4% from the floor and 34.6% from 3-point range.

Last season would have been her senior year of high school, but she graduated early and began her college career.

Coaches for the U19 team include Indiana’s Teri Moren, South Florida’s Jose Fernandez and Notre Dame’s Niele Ivey. That trio led the 2024 USA Women’s U18 to gold at the FIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup last summer.

The United States will compete in Group A alongside Israel, Hungary and Korea. The opener will be July 12 against Korea, before taking on Hungary the following day, both at 2:15 p.m. ET. Group play concludes against Israel on July 15 at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Year	No.	Players	Pos.	Height
Freshman	5	Liza Astakhova (LEE-zah uh-STAH-koh-vuh)	W	6–2
Freshman	7	Nyla Brooks	W	6–1
		Brooks brings dazzling skills, confidence to UNC
Freshman	3	Taliyah Henderson	W	6–1
		Long wait, journey for 5-star freshman Henderson after second knee surgery nearly over
Freshman	26	Taissa Queiroz	G	6–1
		Queiroz came to USA from Brazil to chase her dreams
Sophomore	17	Elina Aarnisalo (EH-lee-nah AHR-nee-sah-loh)	G	5–10
		Aarnisalo brings flash, IQ and pro experience to backcourt
Sophomore	0	Lanie Grant	G	5–9
Sophomore	34	Blanca Thomas	C	6–5
Sophomore	1	Jordan Zubich	G	5–11
RS sophomore	21	Ciera Toomey	F	6–4
RS sophomore	4	Laila Hull	W	6–1
Junior	10	Reniya Kelly	PG	5–7
Junior	15	Sydney Barker	PG	5–6
Senior	2	Nyla Harris	F	6–2
		It was hard for Harris to say ‘no’ to UNC again
Senior	24	Indya Nivar	G	5–10

Class of 2025

Player	Rating	ESPN rank	Position	Height	Hometown
Nyla Brooks	Five star	No. 13	Wing	6–2	Alexandria, Va.
Taliyah Henderson	Five star	No. 27	Wing	6–1	Vail, Ariz.
Taissa Queiroz	Four star	No. 77	Guard	6–1	Santa Rosa, Calif.
Liza Astakhova	—	—	Wing	6–1	Moscow, Russia

Date	Day/month	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
30	Thursday	L, 91–82	No. 3 South Carolina in Atlanta	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 90–42	vs. N.C. Central	1–0
6	Thursday	W, 71–37	vs. Elon	2–0
			WBCA Challenge Las Vegas
13	Thursday	L, 78–60	vs. No. 4 UCLA	2–1
15	Saturday	W, 82–68	vs. Fairfield	3–1
			———————————
20	Thursday	W, 85–50	at N.C. A&T	4–1
23	Sunday	W, 94–48	vs. UNCG	5–1
			Cancun Challenge Cancun, Mexico
27	Thursday	W, 83–48	vs. South Dakota St.	6–1
28	Friday	W, 85–73	vs. Kansas State	7–1
29	Saturday	W, 80–63	vs. Columbia	8–1
	December		ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge
4	Thursday	W, 79–64	at No. 2 Texas	8–2
			———————————
7	Sunday	W, 82–40	vs. Boston Univ.	9–2
14	Sunday	L, 76–66, OT	vs. No. 16 Louisville	9–3, 0–1 ACC
17	Wednesday	8 p.m.	vs. UNCW	ACCN
21	Sunday	Noon	vs. Charleston Southern	ACCN Extra
29	Monday	8 p.m.	at Boston College	ACCN
	January
1	Thursday	Noon	vs. California	ACCN
4	Sunday	1 p.m.	vs. Stanford	ESPN
11	Sunday	1 p.m.	at No. 20 Notre Dame	ESPN
15	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Miami	ACCN Extra
18	Sunday	2 p.m.	at Florida State	The CW
22	Thursday	8 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
25	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	The CW
	February
2	Monday	6 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN2
5	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ACCN
8	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
12	Thursday	6 p.m.	vs. SMU	ACCN
15	Sunday	1 p.m.	at Duke	ABC
19	Thursday	6 p.m.	at Virginia Tech	ACCN
22	Sunday	Noon	vs. Pittsburgh	ACCN
26	Thursday	7 p.m.	at Virginia	ACCN Extra
	March
1	Sunday	Noon	vs. Duke	ESPN
			ACC tournament
4–8	Wed.-Sun		Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga.
			NCAA tournament
20–24	Fri.-Mon.		First, second rounds
27–30	Fri.-Mon.		Regionals Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif.
	April
3, 5	Fri., Sun		Final Four Phoenix