LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The U.S. will begin play in the FIBA U18 Americas Championship on Monday against Colombia in Buenos Aires, Argentina with a roster including two high school All-American guards who have signed with UCLA.
Kiki Rice was the 2022 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year, the Naismith High School Girls Player of the Year, the MaxPreps National Female High School Athlete of the Year and a co-MVP of the McDonald’s All-American Game.
Rice led Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. to a 30-0 record in the 2021-22 season, averaging 15.8 points, 7 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game, and the No. 1 ranking by ESPN and the high school sports news website MaxPreps.
Londynn Jones was a 2022 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All- American, averaging 25.2 points for Centennial High School in Corona.
Rice and Jones were teammates on the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the 2019 FIBA Americas U16 Championship. Rice also played for the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the 2022 FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup.
Players in the tournament must be born on or after Jan. 1, 2004.
The preliminary round game is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time and will be streamed at YouTube.com/FIBA.
The U.S. is 59-2 in FIBA women’s under-18 competitions dating back to 1988 and has won eight consecutive gold medals dating back to 2004.
