FIBA rising stars shine at inaugural Women's Nike Hoop Summit

PORTLAND (USA) - As the dust settles on the landmark Women's Nike Hoop Summit game between the USA and the World Select Team, the main takeaway was the number of FIBA youth stars excelling at the event. 

It was FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 participant Mikaylah Williams who stole the show and came up with the clutch performance as USA took a 100-79 triumph against their opponents.

 
With 20 of her superb 22 point haul coming after the break, Williams showed there is plenty to be excited about for the future as she shot the lights out with 6 of 7 from downtown.

In fact, it was very much a 2022 gold medalist reunion, with more than half of the team that took the podium in Debrecen, Hungary last year on the USA team in Portland.

The roster included  Jadyn Donovan, Hannah Hildago, Madison Booker, Breya Cunningham, Sunaja Agara and Jada Williams, who all benefitted from the experience of landing the global title last year.

It was a similar story for the World Select Team where they were plenty of ballers making a noise. As anticipated, it was Canadian Toby Fournier who stood out the most with a fine performance.

She previously made everyone sit up and take notice when she dunked at the FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup, as well as putting up huge numbers. The forward was at it again in this historic first Women's Nike Hoop Summit contest, leading her side with 18 points and 9 rebounds. 

Shaneice Swain of Australia also caught the eye in a big way after dropping 19 points. She cut her teeth playing in Oceania youth tournaments for her country, prior to showing her talent at the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2021 where she helped the Gems make the title game. 

This first women's Nike Hoop Summit was rightly heralded as a success and step forward - adding another major opportunity for aspiring players to showcase their skills in addition to the existing FIBA youth events and the various Basketball Without Borders camps.

FIBA