Three area girls basketball stars trying out for national U-17 team
Three girls basketball players from the Twin Cities will compete for spots on USA Basketball's under-17 national team.
USA Basketball revealed this week the 44 players expected to participate in the trials. Two of them, junior Aaliyah Crump and sophomore Lanelle Wright, played for Minnetonka's Class 4A state champion team. A third, Maddyn Greenway, is a sophomore who won the Class 2A state title with Providence Academy.
The trials will go on May 23-27 at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.; a 12-member team will be chosen. Those chosen will compete in the FIBA U17 Women's World Cup starting July 13-21 in Irapuato and Leon, Mexico, after a training camp in early July in Colorado Springs.
Thirty-five of the players have USA Basketball experience, from trials, training camps and tournaments. All 12 members of the 2023 USA Basketball under-16 team, which won the gold medal at the FIBA U16 Women's AmeriCup, are expected at trials. That group includes Crump.
Crump and Greenway made the Star Tribune's All-Metro first team after the 2023-24 season. Greenway, a 5-8 guard, averaged 34.2 points per game last season, and Crump, a 6-1 guard, averaged 24.5. Wright, a 5-9 guard, averaged 13.6.
Crump is ranked fifth nationally by ESPN among Class of 2025 recruits. Greenway stands 16th in the Class of 2026.
