Monique Billings and Rae Burrell Join the U.S. Women’s Basketball Team for the FIBA World Cup Qualifier
The United States women’s basketball team has added Monique Billings and Rae Burrell to its roster for the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament to be held next week in Puerto Rico.
Billings and Burrell will replace Aliyah Boston and Sonia Citron, who will not be able to participate in the tournament in San Juan. Boston missed the Unrivaled playoffs due to a right lower extremity injury. Citron also missed the end of the Unrivaled regular season due to the same injury.
Billings was part of the U.S. U-23 national team in 2017, which remained undefeated in the Four Nations Tournament. For his part, Burrell will make his competitive debut with the U.S. national team.
The team will be led by young prospects like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers. The Americans will also have the 2024 Olympic gold medalists Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young.
Dearica Hamby and Rhyne Howard, who won the bronze medal in 3×3 at the Paris 2024 Games. Kiki Iriafen, a rookie for the Washington Mystics, completes the roster.
U.S. Olympic coach Kara Lawson will lead the team in San Juan for the first part of the tournament before returning to Duke to prepare the Blue Devils for the NCAA Tournament. She will be assisted by Natalie Nakase, Nate Tibbets, and Stephanie White.
The United States will face Senegal, Puerto Rico, Italy, New Zealand, and Spain in the tournament. The Americans are already qualified for the World Cup in Berlin from September 4 to 13.
The Americans are seeking their fifth consecutive World Cup championship.
