Latest news with #McDonald'sAll-Americangame
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
USC recruit Alijah Arenas, son of Gilbert Arenas, injured in auto crash
Alijah Arenas, the Chatsworth High star and crown jewel of USC's incoming recruiting class, was involved in a serious auto accident on Thursday morning, a person familiar with the situation not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times. Arenas has been hospitalized and placed in a medically induced coma, according to ESPN's Shams Charania, who first reported the crash. Advertisement Alijah is the son of former NBA player Gilbert Arenas, who canceled plans to stream a new episode of his online show Thursday. A top-10 recruit in the 2025 class, Alijah Arenas led Chatsworth High to the CIF Division II state championship game in March. He left Chatsworth as the all-time City Section scoring leader, with more than 3,000 points, and recently competed in the McDonald's All-American game. Arenas was slated to play a major role as a freshman at USC after choosing the Trojans over more established basketball powers like Arizona, Kansas and Kentucky. Chatsworth students had the day off from school Thursday in observance of Armenian Genocide Memorial Day. Advertisement This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
What Dawn Staley said about Agot Makeer signing with South Carolina women's basketball
COLUMBIA — Agot Makeer is officially part of the South Carolina women's basketball program, after committing to coach Dawn Staley's team on March 1. The program announced on April 24 that the five-star, 6-foot-1 wing, has signed. Advertisement At the time of Makeer's verbal commitment, she was ranked No. 4 in the class of 2025 by ESPN. In the latest rankings, she is now the No. 6 ranked player. 'We're excited to bring Agot into our Gamecock family,' Staley said in a school release. 'She brings size, speed and versatility to our guard unit with her ability to play multiple positions. Her ball handling and passing skills enhance her ability to score and spread the defense. Agot is super competitive, talented and has an unlimited ceiling.' Makeer is from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada but she played her final season of high school basketball at Montverde Academy in Florida. As a senior, she averaged 10 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. In Canada, she played for Crestwood Prep and as a junior, she averaged 19.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists. Her team went undefeated in 2023-24, the same season that South Carolina went unbeaten at the college level. Makeer won the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association championship and in the title game, she scored 29 points which included nine three-pointers and was named tournament MVP. Advertisement Makeer joins Ayla McDowell, a 6-2 power forward who signed with the Gamecocks in November as part of Staley's freshmen class for the 2025-26 season. McDowell is also a five-star rated player out of high school and is No. 15 overall in ESPN's rankings. Both players played in the 2025 McDonald's All-American game on April 1. Makeer finished with seven points on 3-of-7 from the field, McDowell with 10 points on 4-of-5. Staley also added stars in the transfer portal in Madina Okot, a 6-6 forward from Mississippi State, and Ta'Niya Latson from Florida State, who led the nation in scoring in 2024-25. Latson signed April 17 and Okot signed April 22. NEW HIRES: Dawn Staley, South Carolina women's basketball hire Wendale Farrow of Southern Cal as assistant Advertisement Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@ and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Agot Makeer: Dawn Staley on South Carolina women's basketball 5-star signee
USA Today
05-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
4 things to know about South Carolina vs. UConn in women's basketball NCAA Championship
TAMPA, Fla. – The national championship matchup is set after commanding wins from South Carolina and UConn in the Final Four on Friday. It'll be a rematch of the 2022 NCAA Championship game on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC) at Amalie Arena. The No. 1 seed Gamecocks (35-3) beat Texas 74-57, and the No. 2 seed Huskies (36-3) beat UCLA 85-51 to advance. South Carolina beat UConn 64-49 in the 2022 final, the only other time they met in the championship game. UConn handed the Gamecocks a 87-58 loss during the regular season, snapping their 71-game win streak in Columbia, South Carolina. It was also the largest margin in a home loss for South Carolina since 2008. Here's what you need to know about the rematch. Battle of the freshmen: Joyce Edwards vs. Sarah Strong The championship matchup with feature arguably the two best freshmen in the country. UConn's Sarah Strong and South Carolina's Joyce Edwards both play significant roles for their teams. It's no surprise the freshmen have helped lead their teams to the national championship game — there were signs a year ago of the dominance to come. Strong, the No. 1 recruit of the 2024 class, and Edwards, the No. 3 recruit in the 2024 class, were co-MVPs of the McDonald's All-American game last April. Strong is the second-leading scorer for the Huskies, behind senior star Paige Bueckers. The 6-foot-2 forward averages 16.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. Strong had 22 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block Friday. Edwards leads the Gamecocks in scoring off the bench. The 6-3 forward averages 12.7 points, five rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.1 steals in 21 minutes per game. Edwards bounced back from a three-game slump Friday, logging 13 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a steal. Both players are confident with the ball in their hands and impact every area of the game. How each freshman performs in the first national championship game of their careers will heavily influence the outcome. Can South Carolina become first repeat champion since 2016? No team has repeated as national champions since UConn won four straight titles from 2013-16. South Carolina had the chance to repeat during the 2022-23 season, but it fell in the Final Four. After going undefeated last season en route to their third national championship, the Gamecocks have another opportunity to repeat. They would become only the fourth program in NCAA history to win back-to-back national titles, joining an elite group with USC, Tennessee and UConn. Some might look at the Final Four results and think UConn will blow out the Gamecocks again. But South Carolina was playing Texas for a fourth time this season, and it still won by 17 points. South Carolina's tournament run hasn't been as dominant as last season's, but the Gamecocks looked like a championship team again as they dismantled Texas on Friday. Will Paige Bueckers leave UConn with a national championship? If UConn doesn't win Sunday, Paige Bueckers would leave the program as the only player to win National Player of the Year and not a national championship. She would be the best player by far to leave UConn without adding to the program's 11 national titles. Bueckers was hampered by injuries throughout her career, and her team as a whole has suffered injuries that prevented championship runs. But now, the Huskies have all the pieces to win a title, and they looked like it when they throttled UCLA on Friday. Bueckers had a slower night offensively against the Bruins, scoring 16 points on 7-for-17 shooting, but she has been on a tear during the NCAA tournament. Going into the Final Four, Bueckers was averaging 29 points on 58.7% shooting. Even with a slower scoring night, Bueckers had 16 points, adding five rebounds, three steals and two assists. South Carolina will have to contain Bueckers, who is more than capable of rising to another level with a championship on the line. Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma square off in NCAA final again The matchup is a clash between one of the original dynasties of women's basketball and the one taking hold in the modern era. It's also a coaching battle between two of the most accomplished coaches in the sport. UConn coach Geno Auriemma was undefeated in national championship games before losing to South Carolina and Dawn Staley in 2022. He was 11-0 in NCAA finals prior to the loss, and now Staley holds the mantle of being undefeated in national championship games (3-0). Auriemma holds a 9-5 overall head-to-head record against Staley. South Carolina has won four of the five last matchups with the Huskies, who won the first seven matchups against the Gamecocks under Staley. Auriemma has won 11 national championships, but hasn't won a title since 2016. Staley has won three NCAA championships, all of them since 2017.
Los Angeles Times
05-04-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
‘We're not done': UCLA women look to reload for another NCAA title chase
TAMPA, Fla. — Lauren Betts buried her face in a towel at the end of the UCLA bench. The Bruins center breathed deeply, lifted her head and wiped her tears. She doesn't want to go out like this. 'Coming back next year, I think I'm just going to continue to grow as a leader,' Betts said after UCLA's historic season ended with an 85-51 loss to Connecticut in the national semifinal Friday, 'and remind everybody what that standard is and show that with urgency every single day.' UCLA broke ground with the program's first NCAA Final Four appearance. The Bruins set a single-season program record with 34 wins. They claimed their first conference tournament title since 2006. Yet the disappointment of the worst Final Four loss in NCAA tournament history has motivated them to push further toward UCLA's first national championship since 1978. 'Really unusual to be in this position at the Final Four and have zero seniors in your locker room,' head coach Cori Close said, 'and to have an opportunity to come back stronger, more connected, learning from this experience and be better the next time.' Every player on UCLA's roster has eligibility to return, including Betts, a draft-eligible junior who already expressed her desire to play with her younger sister Sienna. A stretch 6-foot-4 wing, Sienna is set to join the Bruins after being named the most valuable player of the McDonald's All-American game this month. 'She's a way better shooter than I am,' Lauren said. 'To be honest, I feel like for her being younger, I think she is a little bit smarter than I am, too. She's genuinely one of the smartest basketball players I've ever been around.' The Bruins have also signed guard Lena Bilic to reach the NCAA scholarship limit of 15. Playing for Croatia's ZKK Tresnjevka 2009 in the country's top league, the 6-foot-3 guard averaged 15.4 points, six rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game. With Sienna's addition, the Bruins have stockpiled talent at the four position, where Angela Dugalic, Timea Gardiner and Janiah Barker split time this season. Dugalic, a graduate student who has one year of eligibility remaining because of a knee injury in 2022, started 63 games in the last two seasons. She said she has not made a decision about her next steps, balancing a possible return with the WNBA draft and her Serbian national team obligations. The logjam of athletic, sharp-shooting forwards places a higher emphasis on improved guard play after the Bruins' backcourt turned the ball over seven times with just three assists against Connecticut. The biggest reinforcement might already be on UCLA's sideline. Graduate student Charlisse Leger-Walker is expected to play next season after redshirting while rehabbing a knee injury suffered in 2024. While sidelined, she became a respected motherly figure around the team because of her maturity and leadership. But when the former Washington State star returned to practice last month, she quickly reminded teammates of what a three-time All-Pac-12 honoree can still bring on the court. 'I just tell people Charlisse was definitely one of the best players I played against my freshman year and the entire season,' junior guard Kiki Rice said. 'She's so talented, has a really high IQ, does everything well on the court.' Every day for more than a year, Rice wrote in her notebook that the Bruins would go to the Final Four. The experience was grander than she had imagined. Nearly 20,000 people packed Tampa's Amalie Arena for the Final Four games. Back home in L.A., city monuments were lighted up in blue and gold to honor the Bruins. It was the kind of support Rice dreamed of when she signed with UCLA. So as the junior guard watched the final seconds tick off the clock Friday, Rice acknowledged the frustration of a bad performance and the sadness of a season's end, but also felt the pride of a historic run. She still mustered a smile. 'I'm not going to forget the fact that we had such a great year,' Rice said. 'To be in the Final Four, that's what you dream of, and that's what you work for. But I think obviously, we're not done. We want to win a national championship.'
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Brayden Burries delivers historic performance to lead Roosevelt to state championship
The show that Brayden Burries of Eastvale Roosevelt put on at Golden 1 Center on Saturday night in the state Open Division championship game against San Francisco Riordan was historic. Fans who watched him make 10 of 13 shots and score 27 points in the first half, ranging from three-point baskets to layups after grabbing a rebound and dribbling coast to coast, will remember his absolute brilliance. One of the best 16 minutes of high school basketball I've ever seen by an individual. 27 points by Brayden Burries. 10 of 13 shots. 44-33 Roosevelt over Riordan. — eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) March 16, 2025 The 6-foot-5 senior couldn't and wouldn't be stopped. He was in one of those rare athletic trances that brings out moments of greatness. He finished with 44 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and led Roosevelt (35-2) to its first Open Division state title with an emphatic 80-60 victory over Riordan. Burries set an Open Division scoring record (the previous record was 35 points) and ranks as one of the best individual playoff performances in Southern California playoff history. Tracy Murray scored 64 points in the 1989 state Division II final for Glendora at the Oakland Coliseum and Dwayne Polee scored 43 points against Crenshaw in the 1981 City Section championship game before 14,123 at the Sports Arena. Burries made 15 of 22 shots, was four of six from three-point range and made 10 of 12 free throws. Roosevelt made 21 of 23 free throws as a team. "Unbelievable," Roosevelt coach Stephen Singleton said of Burries' performance. "Best player in the history of Roosevelt. No. 5 is going to be retired. Nobody is better. He stepped up in the biggest moment on the biggest stage. He'll be playing here one day." Said Burries: "I feel like before the game, I was listening to a lot of gospel music. I was just in a zone. I woke up feeling great. We had our shootaround and had the chemistry, 'We can't lose this one tonight.' We had to finish the story. It was great time out there. I wish we had another game. It was amazing." Coach Stephen Singleton. — eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) March 16, 2025 Burries still hasn't announced a college choice, with Arizona making a strong choice. His sidekick, point guard Myles Walker, had another terrific game, scoring 15 points. Jasir Rancher scored 22 points for Riordan, which finished 29-2. In describing what he saw in the first half from Burries, Walker said he was "unconscious." "I think he's the best player in the nation," Walker said. Burries is set to play in the McDonald's All-American game. He has left a legacy at Roosevelt that will be long remembered. Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
