High School

USA U16 girls drop 100 on Argentina as high school stars dominate at FIBA AmeriCup

Top-ranked recruits Eve Long, Micah Ojo and Ivanna Wilson-Manyacka help Team USA cruise to 101-46 win and enter knockout play unbeaten

Levi Payton

Plano East sophomore guard Arianna Robinson (11) dribbles during a Feb. 14, 2025 game against South Grand Prairie. Robinson is currently playing for Team USA's U16 Women's Junior National Team.
Plano East sophomore guard Arianna Robinson (11) dribbles during a Feb. 14, 2025 game against South Grand Prairie. Robinson is currently playing for Team USA's U16 Women's Junior National Team. /  Oladipo Awowale

The United States dominated from the opening tip and never looked back in a 101-46 win over Argentina on Wednesday to finish group play unbeaten at the 2025 FIBA U16 Women’s AmeriCup in Irapuato, Mexico.

It was just another day at the office for some of the country’s top high school women’s players.

With the win, the Americans moved to 3-0 in pool play and 8-0 all time against Argentina at the U16 level. The USA improved to 45-1 in the history of the tournament and now advances to the quarterfinals on June 20.

Eve Long (Olathe South; Olathe, Kansas) led the offense with 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field and 7-for-8 at the free throw line. She added five rebounds and a steal, and has now scored in double figures in all three games of the tournament, averaging 12.7 points.

As a sophomore at Olathe South, Long – who holds a four-star ranking from ESPN and is No. 11 on the 2027 HoopGurlz Terrific 25 – entered the 2024-25 Kansas 6A playoffs averaging 22.7 points, 11 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. She holds offers from nearly every major women’s college program in the country.

The USA defense made an early statement, jumping out to a 25-3 lead and holding Argentina to 1-for-12 shooting to start the game. The Americans led 27-6 after the first quarter and held Argentina to just 24.6 percent shooting overall, including 6-for-27 from 3-point range.

Micah Ojo (Princess Anne; Virginia Beach, Virginia) sparked the defensive effort with five steals as part of a collective 15-steal performance by the squad. Through three games, Ojo, Ivanna Wilson-Manyacka (Bullis School; Potomac, Maryland) and Morghan Reckley (Sandy Creek; Tyrone, Georgia) have all reached double digits in steals. The U.S. also controlled the boards 57-32 and scored 24 second-chance points.

Ojo – No. 7 on ESPN’s 2027 HoopGurlz Terrific 25 – was a key piece of Princess Anne’s lineup. The No. 3 small forward by 247Sports averaged 19.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.0 steals for the Lady Cavaliers, helping them go 28-0 in 2023-24 and win the Virginia Class 5 state championship.

Wilson-Manyacka – ranked No. 2 on ESPN’s 2027 HoopGurlz Terrific 25 – had 62 steals in 25 games (2.5 per game) as a sophomore at Bullis in 2024-25. The 6-foot-1 forward averaged 18.5 points and 11.1 rebounds, helping lead the Lady Bulldogs to a 24-8 record. She scored 463 points and pulled down 277 rebounds.

Reckley, a 5-foot-7 guard, led the Lady Patriots to a 23-7 mark as a freshman and reached the second round of the 2024-25 GHSA AAA girls state basketball tournament. She scored 739 points on the season, averaging 24.6 per game across 30 games. She also averaged 8.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 5.8 steals. Reckley made 48 percent of her shots from the field (272-for-567) and hit 34 percent (60-for-179) from 3-point range.

All 12 players scored for the second game in a row. The starting five for the USA featured Jazman Bailey (Mansfield Lake Ridge; Mansfield, Texas), Olivia Jones, Long, Ojo and Wilson-Manyacka.

With the win, the USA advanced to the knockout round on Friday against Panama.

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Levi Payton
LEVI PAYTON

Levi’s sports journalism career began in 2005. A Missouri native, he’s won multiple Press Association awards for feature writing and has served as a writer and editor covering high school sports as well as working beats in professional baseball, NCAA football, basketball, baseball and soccer. If you have a good story, he’d love to tell it.

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