Rhyne Howard Named to Team USA U18 Roster
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After a three-day trail over the weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo., incoming University of Kentucky guard Rhyne Howard has been named to the 12-member roster for the 2018 USA Basketball Women’s U18 National Team.
The team members will return to Colorado Springs for training camp on July 20, before the team departs for the 2018 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, which will be held Aug. 1-7, 2018, at a location still to be announced. Athletes eligible for this team must be U.S. citizens who are 18 years old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 2000).
USA women’s teams boast of a remarkable 53-2 overall record in U18/Junior qualifiers and have won gold in 1988, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016; while capturing silver medals in 1992 and 1996.
Howard is coming off an amazing high school career at Bradley Central High School in Cleveland, Tenn. She was recently named the Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year, which recognizes the nation’s most outstanding high school student-athletes for their athletic excellence, academic achievement and exemplary character. The honor joined a lengthy list of accolades this season for Howard. On top of her Tennessee Miss Basketball honor, she was tabbed one of 24 players to the 2018 Jordan Brand Classic game, where she scored 13 points to lead the White team. Earlier this year, she was named a McDonald’s All-America Game nominee and was on the Naismith Trophy Preseason and Midseason Watch Lists.
Howard paced Bradley Central to over 30 wins this season, including an appearance in the Class AAA State Tournament. The Bears won one game at the state tournament with Howard scoring 12 points with 12 rebounds adding five assists. Howard was brilliant in leading the Bears to the state tournament, scoring 41 points on 16-of-25 shooting in the District 5-AAA championship before scoring 32 points on 14-of-17 shooting with six steals, five assists, four rebounds and two blocks in the Region 1-AAA quarterfinal. She helped the Bears clinch the sectional championship with 27 points and 15 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season.
Ranked as the eighth best player overall in the 2018 class according to All-Star Girls Report, Howard had a great senior season. The athletic combo guard averaged 22.2 points per game, 7.7 rebounds per game, 5.3 steals per game and 4.1 assists per game. She shot 54 percent from the field this season and scored 758 points. The native of Cleveland, Tenn., averaged 19.6 points per game, 7.2 rebounds per game, 4.6 steals per game, 3.8 assists per game and 1.2 blocks per game as a junior. She scored 647 points that year for the Bears, hitting 55 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3. For her efforts, she was named the 2017 TSSAA Class AAA Miss Basketball runner up, was a unanimous District 5 AAA Player of the Year and a Tennessee Sports Writer’s Association All-State honoree.
The 2018 USA Women’s U18 National Team will be led by Jeff Walz of the University of Louisville, with Natasha Adair of the University of Delaware and Cori Close of UCLA serving as the USA’s assistant coaches.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, or Kentucky Women’s Basketball on Facebook.
