Cameron Brink and Caitlin Clark partly headline a possible altering of the guard in Staff USA’s girls’s endeavors.
Jason Voorhees had nothing on Cameron Brink’s leap scares at camp.
If anybody on the 2019 FIBA Below-19 Girls’s Basketball World Cup’s ledgers had an opportunity at stopping Caitlin Clark, it could nicely have been her personal American teammate Brink. The present Los Angeles Spark on the very least denied Clark a part of a very good night time’s sleep as they roomed collectively in the course of the match proceedings in Bangkok, her euphoria over a Stanford acceptance interrupting the purpose guard’s uncommon slumber.
“It appears like ceaselessly in the past,” Brink, reunited with Clark at a weekend camp hosted by Staff USA, recalled with a smile on Friday. “That was truly the journey that I discovered I acquired admitted to Stanford. I keep in mind, I believe I could have woken Caitlin up, being actually excited, listening to I acquired admitted, as a result of I used to be nervous about my transcripts slightly bit. However she was an incredible roommate, and he or she’s nonetheless a really nice good friend to me.”
Fortuitously for the Individuals, the remaining was historical past—and present.
Brink went on to change into a Cardinal legend after she and the Iowa-bound Clark donned medals for the golden victory over Australia. The 2 later reunited atop the 2024 WNBA Draft board (solely Clark’s coronation because the Indiana Fever’s franchise face preceded Brink transferring south to the Sparks) and are actually engaged in additional nationwide actions, these set to assist type the roster that goes for Olympic glory on its dwelling ground.
Staff USA Reunites Brink and Clark
Partaking within the premier senior membership’s December coaching camp marks the primary time that Brink and Clark have been teammates since that fateful Thai tour. Clark is hardly stunned that they’ve run into one another so typically and is grateful to have accomplished so, even when their most-renowned endeavors have been staged in several jerseys.
“I’ve identified her for fairly a while now,” Clark recalled in her personal statements from camp in Durham this week. All through faculty, we continued to construct our relationship, after which, even now, professionally. It’s at all times good to see folks that you just’ve identified for five-plus years and even longer now. The U-16 crew was the primary crew I ever performed on. I believe I used to be 15. So it’s been virtually 9 years now, which is fairly unimaginable, the course of this journey.”
How good was the Staff USA squad that gained the FIBA U19 Girls’s World Cup? 4 are within the Candy 16 beginning immediately. 🏆🏅
Hailey van Lith (LSU) Cameron Brink (Stanford) Celeste Taylor (Ohio State) Caitlin Clark (Iowa) Paige Bueckers (UConn) 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/uwLE6lYCzL
— Joshua Sánchez (@jnsanchez) March 29, 2024
Younger and Turnt: Passing of the Torch
This weekend’s camp, staged at Cameron Indoor Stadium on the campus of Duke College, serves as a de facto homecoming for that 2019 group: match MVP Paige Bueckers labeled the core headlined by a number of of its entrants “younger and turnt,” as she, Brink, Clark, and Aliyah Boston had been all assembled underneath the watch of head coach Kara Lawson and managing director Sue Fowl.
How time flies 🥹
The “Younger N Turnt” Class has been showin’ out on the #USABWNT Camp! pic.twitter.com/gPbHUI05fO
— WNBA (@WNBA) December 13, 2025
Brink was happy to report that the “camaraderie” hasn’t dulled with time and, paradoxically sufficient, was happy to see mutated chemistry with fellow put up presence and Clark’s Indiana teammate Boston. Set for South Carolina, Boston had a 12-point, 11-rebound displaying within the 2019 championship overcome the younger Opals.
“There’s only a nice camaraderie, and we’re persevering with that, the teamwork,” Brink stated. “They’re three actually nice gamers. Aaliyah, I believe we [especially] related, like I may actually get the ball to her another way. Her high-low motion was actually good. So I’m simply wanting ahead to enjoying with them once more, as a substitute of enjoying towards them.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
