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South Carolina women's basketball: FIBA U19 Women's World Cup recap

On3 imageby: Chris Wellbaum07/20/25ChrisWellbaum
Agot Makeer
Agot Makeer

Agot Makeer nearly pulled off a stunner, Ayla McDowell shined in defeat, and Team USA won another gold medal at the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup.

Canada went undefeated in group play and didn’t lose until playing Australia in the semifinals. Then Canada lost a 70-68 heartbreaker to Spain in the bronze medal game.

With 4.7 seconds left, Makeer stole the inbounds pass from Spain. She launched a three as time expired, but the would-be game-winner was off the mark.

Makeer averaged 10.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.4 steals. She didn’t start for Canada, but was often in the closing lineup.

Brazil struggled, but got better as the tournament went on. Brazil finished 14th out of 16 teams and went 1-5. The only win came over last-place Argentina, although Brazil nearly beat host Czechia in the final game of the tournament. 

McDowell averaged 16.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.7 steals, and 1.5 assists for the tournament. She was often Brazil’s only offensive threat, allowing defenses to key on her and hold her to 29.4% shooting and 28.6% from three.

McDowell was the seventh-leading scorer for the week and fifth in steals.

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There were no current Gamecocks on the Team USA roster. However, South Carolina is recruiting Saniyah Hall, who took her official visit in May, Kate Harpring, who took an unofficial visit last fall, and Sydney Douglas.

The United States went undefeated in the tournament and cruised to the gold medal with an 88-76 win over Australia on Sunday. Team USA has not lost since the gold medal game of the 2017 World Cup, a record streak of 28 games.

Game stats
Ayla McDowell
vs France (83-47 loss): 33 minutes*, 18 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals, block
vs Australia (87-59 loss): 34 minutes*, 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, block
vs Japan (66-52 loss): 40 minutes*, 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals
vs South Korea (87-80 loss): 39 minutes*, 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals
vs Argentina (68-62 win): 38 minutes*, 18 points, 2 rebounds, assist
vs Czechia (70-65 loss): 36 minutes*, 20 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists

Agot Makeer
vs Portugal (88-49 win): 19 minutes, 9 points, 6 rebounds, assist, steal, block 
vs Nigeria (113-42 win): 15 minutes, 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 5-7 3PT
vs China (115-52 win): 16 minutes, 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
vs South Korea (70-58 win): 25 minutes, 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists
vs Japan (85-65 win): 22 minutes, 10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, steal, block
vs Australia (87-75 loss): 29 minutes, 9 points, 7 rebounds, assist, steal
vs Spain (70-68 loss): 12 minutes, 2 points, rebound, 2 steals

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