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Sue Phillips, Morgan Cheli bring varsity connection to U17 national team

Team USA’s Morgan Cheli is one of 12 players who will take the court for the U17 national team Saturday in Debrecen, Hungary. (Courtesy of USA Basketball)

Coach Sue Phillips first remembers meeting Morgan Cheli at a USA Basketball skills academy when the guard was only in elementary school.

She’s also had her in math class and coached her at Archbishop Mitty High School in California.

This past season, the sophomore Cheli led the Monarchs in all categories during a powerful 30-2 season. Now, just over a month after the end of the school year, Phillips and Cheli will pick up right where they left off, but this time for the USA Basketball U17 Women’s National Team, which begins play at the FIBA U17 World Cup on Saturday in Debrecen, Hungary.

“It was a great year,” Cheli said. “You know, I wish we would’ve ended it a little stronger, but that’s our call to get back to where we were. I’m looking forward to next season.”

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Team USA coach Sue Phillips has amassed more than 760 wins at Archbishop Mitty High School and has sent 50 players to the next level. (Courtesy of USA Basketball)

Cheli and eleven others among the top players from the classes of 2023 and 2024 will attempt to bring home the gold medal. For Phillips, it’s the fifth coaching assignment with USA Basketball. Last summer, she guided the U16 national team to an undefeated record and a gold medal in Mexico.

Returning from that U16 national team are 2023’s Madison Booker, Breya Cunningham, Jadyn Donovan, Juju Watkins and Jada Williams, as well as 2024’s Jaloni Cambridge. The team also boasts names such as Hannah Hidalgo and Mikaylah Williams, the unanimous No. 1 recruit in the class of 2023 who recently committed to LSU. Sunaja Agara, MacKenly Randolph and Kennedy Umeh round out the roster.

“It’s an incredibly talented group this year,” Phillips said. “A versatile combination of young women who can score at all three levels. They can wreak havoc defensively as well. It’s a really fun group to coach, and I think we’ll play an exciting brand of basketball.”

Though Phillips has garnered much success with Team USA, she carries nearly 30 years of experience coaching and teaching math at Archbishop Mitty. She herself is an alumna of the school and basketball program.

“[Teaching math is] what pays the mortgage, let’s be clear!” Phillips said with a laugh.

It’s also greatly impacted her coaching style.

“Empathy and teaching are such integral parts of your interactions,” Phillips said. “Watching film and starting with mistakes is like me handing back your quiz in our math class. You missed Nos. 7 and 15. We have the opportunity to walk through this, so that when we have our test — or playing on the world stage — we have the chance to remedy that error.”

Having the ability to draw parallels between teaching and coaching allows Phillips to diffuse difficult situations. While it may be embarrassing or disheartening to make a mistake, Phillips finds that approaching it with a growth mindset can make all the difference.

“The only way you are gonna get better is if we address those setbacks, those oversights, whatever you want to call them,” Phillips said. “It’s a great way to approach learning, especially during the lowlights. During the highlights, everyone’s having fun with it. But we shouldn’t shy away from opportunities to learn.”

At Archbishop Mitty, she has amassed more than 760 wins and sent 50 players to the next level. This past season, Phillips, Cheli and the rest of the Monarchs team won four championships and finished as state runners-up to champion Sierra Canyon, where Watkins and Randolph attend high school.

Phillips also runs her own non-profit, the San Jose Cagers, a girls AAU club program in the South Bay. It began in 2007 when a former student, Danielle Robinson (now of the Indiana Fever), and her mother spoke to Phillips about the lack of an AAU team in the area. The Cagers have teams for fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade teams, as well as three high school teams.

“It’s another way to provide a program that is intended for skill development and a platform for college recruitment,” Phillips said. “It’s about growing the game at the youngest of levels.”

It was in seventh grade when Cheli played for the Cagers that she first started to connect with Phillips.

“I got to know her through Cagers,” Cheli said. “We started building our relationship then. I got to learn more about Mitty and her program. One of the deciding factors was that I would get to play for her. She would help develop me to get me to where I wanted to go.”

With the choice to attend Archbishop Mitty, Cheli paved her own path.

“Cheli’s older siblings attended another local private school in the area,” Phillips said. “But Morgan played club for us, and she and her folks really connected with my staff and I. And we had a player at Mitty, Haley Jones, who Morgan would watch. I think when you watch a player like that thrive and flourish, you say, ‘Geez, I would love to be in that kind of situation.’”

At 6-foot-1, Cheli is versatile. She’s an elite shooter and has the ability to play everything between point guard and power forward depending on what’s needed of her. She has the ability to fill several roles while on the court in Hungary.

But in order to uphold the integrity of the tryout process, Phillips did not speak on Cheli to anybody on the selection committee.

It was important to Phillips that Cheli was treated like everybody else. She was an applicant; not necessarily a name thrown around at the highest level until this spring. However, once she received her tryout invitation, she stepped up. At one point during camp, Cheli led the group in assists and finished with double-digit rebounds.

“It was nice to have that familiar face there as a comfort that going in, I knew somebody,” Cheli said.

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Team USA's Morgan Cheli was in seventh grade when she first played for coach Sue Phillips' San Jose Cagers AAU team. (Courtesy of USA Basketball)

“We kept our distance.” Phillips said. “All of a sudden, we moved to the finalist stage, and I realized she had a real shot. I have no say on the selection process. She earned it. She’s put the time in. She’s continued to make personal sacrifices to make basketball a priority, and over the course of two years, she’s emerged as one of the top players in her class.”

Just as she does on the Archbishop Mitty roster during the school year, Cheli will add to a team packed with talent when Team USA takes the court in Hungary.

“I’m so fortunate to have made the team,” Cheli said, “and it’s really incredible to have my high school coach as my coach here as well. It’s pretty special.”

Expectations are high for Team USA, which opens play against Mali, but Phillips believes in the process and path to reach gold.

“On paper, we are arguably one of the contenders to win gold,” Phillips said. “To be clear, until we take the floor to compete, it still remains to be seen. We are certainly striving to make our mark at the World Cup, but we have to demonstrate our abilities to be the best team on the floor for a particular day.”

Caroline Makauskas is a contributing writer for Just Women’s Sports. She also writes about college basketball for Blue Ribbon Sports and covers a variety of sports on her TikTok @cmakauskas. Follow her on Twitter @cmakauskas.

Team USA Holds Off Brazil to Win 2025 FIBA AmeriCup Championship

The USA Basketball team and coaching staff pose with a 2025 FIBA AmeriCup Champions sign after winning gold.
A young USA squad held off Brazil to claim the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup title on Sunday. (USA Basketball)

USA Basketball lifted the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup trophy on Sunday, taking down defending champions Brazil 92-84 to top the tournament's podium for the fifth time.

Pitting a roster of NCAA talent against Brazil pros like Chicago Sky center Kamilla Cardoso, Team USA battled back from a seven-point third-quarter deficit, then dominated the fourth quarter to send Brazil home with silver medals.

"What a performance by our team," said USA head coach Kara Lawson following the title win. "We knew it was going to be just a tough, physical game."

With 27 points in Sunday's championship game, guard Mikayla Blakes (Vanderbilt) set a USA AmeriCup scoring record en route to earning tournament MVP honors.

"This is my first time playing with USA Basketball, and to be able to cap it off with a win, a gold medal, and to play alongside such great players and great coaches, I couldn't ask for anything better," said Blakes.

After adding 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals in her 21 minutes off the bench on Sunday, guard Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame) joined Blakes in representing the USA on the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup All-Star roster.

Booking a spot on the tournament's All-Star second team was US guard Olivia Miles (TCU), whose 50 assists throughout the competition shattered the modern era's previous single-event record of 46.

Along with their gold medals, Sunday's win also gives the US automatic entry into the 2026 FIBA World Cup in Germany, where they'll look to snag a 12th overall and fifth consecutive world championship.

WNBA Standings Frontrunners Phoenix, Atlanta Right the Ship with Monday Wins

Atlanta Dream center Brittney Griner celebrates a turnover during a 2025 WNBA game.
Brittney Griner's Atlanta Dream bounced back with a win over the Golden State Valkyries on Monday. (Andrew J. Clark/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)

Two WNBA championship contenders found their way back into the win column on Monday, when the No. 2 Phoenix Mercury and No. 4 Atlanta Dream each notched emphatic victories following disappointing weekend results.

Phoenix tasted revenge by blasting No. 11 Dallas 102-72, with guard Sami Whitcomb's game-leading 36 points and 2025 All-Star forward Alyssa Thomas's triple-double (15 points, 15 assists, 10 rebounds) sending the Wings' rookie core packing.

After last Thursday's surprise upset, Dallas's injury-shortened lineup couldn't keep pace in a rematch with the deeper, more experienced Mercury.

The No. 6 Golden State Valkyries also showed their limits on Monday, dropping their sixth road game of the season in a 90-81 loss to the Dream.

Energized by a 24-point performance from 2025 All-Star starter Allisha Gray, Atlanta capitalized on the Valks' fourth-quarter collapse, outscoring the 2025 expansion side 15-2 to book the win.

"I'm telling the refs, 'This is a hard game for us,'" Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase said afterwards. "I get it — home cooking. But to me, I thought for sure that [Valkyries players] were going up just as aggressive as their players, and we just did not get the whistle."

With All-Star Weekend fast approaching, regular-season Cinderella stories are beginning to break away from the true powerhouses, as teams keep chasing Minnesota at the top of the WNBA standings.

How to watch the Phoenix Mercury this week

While Atlanta will be resting until Friday, Phoenix is back in action on Wednesday, when the Mercury will host the league-leading Lynx at 3:30 PM ET.

Live coverage of the game will air on WNBA League Pass.

OL Lyonnes Boosts Midfield with USWNT Stars Lily Yohannes, Korbin Albert

USWNT midfielders Lily Yohannes and Korbin Albert pose in the new 2025 US jerseys.
USWNT stars Lily Yohannes and Korbin Albert will suit up for OL Lyonnes in the fall. (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)

Eight-time UEFA Champions League winners OL Lyonnes will have even more US flair next season, with the French football titan announcing the signings of USWNT stars Lily Yohannes and Korbin Albert over the last week.

Joining the newly rebranded Lyon side from Dutch club Ajax on a reported €450,000 ($527,000) transfer fee, Yohannes's new contract runs through 2028.

Albert also signed a three-year deal on Friday, solidifying her transfer from Première Ligue rivals PSG — the club that the 21-year-old has played for since her early exit from Notre Dame in 2023.

Yohannes and Albert will join USWNT captain Lindsey Heaps in the OL Lyonnes midfield, with US billionaire and multi-team owner Michele Kang (Washington Spirit, London City Lionesses) overseeing the operation.

Backed by her global women's sports organization Kynisca, Kang reportedly beat WSL giants Chelsea FC to the punch in signing 18-year-old Yohannes on Monday.

OL Lyonnes has been stocking up after failing to make it past the 2024/25 Champions League semifinals, adding PSG striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Chelsea FC fullback Ashley Lawrence, Barcelona defender Ingrid Engen, and Vfl Wolfsburg attacker Jule Brand to a roster now led by former Washington Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez.

While international tournaments play out across the world this summer, the club carousel continues to spin as heavyweight teams vie for the sport's top talent.

NWSL Stars Score Big in WAFCON Openers

Zambia players, including NWSL stars Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji, pose during a training session before 2025 WAFCON.

The NWSL is already making a splash at this year's Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), with three of the league's top scorers stealing the spotlight following the 2025 tournament's July 5th kick-off.

Zambia forwards Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride) and Racheal Kundananji (Bay FC) both found the back of the net in their national team's group-stage debut against host country Morocco, helping the Copper Queens earn an opening point in the 2-2 Saturday draw.

Banda struck first, notching the tournament's first goal with one of her signature long-range strikes in the first minute of the match, before Kundananji answered Morocco's 12th-minute penalty equalizer with a Banda-assisted 27th minute goal of her own.

Notably, the NWSL is powering Zambia's entire front line, as Banda's Pride teammates, Grace Chanda and Prisca Chilufya, joined the scorers in leading the Copper Queens' Saturday attack.

Then on Sunday, Kundananji's Bay FC teammate Asisat Oshoala wrote her name on the 2025 WAFCON scoresheet, registering Nigeria's first tournament goal by heading the ball past Tunisia goalkeeper Salima Jobrani in the fourth minute of the match.

With Houston Dash defender Michelle Alozie helping hold down their back line, the Super Falcons opened their WAFCON account with a 3-0 win.

How to watch NWSL stars at 2025 WAFCON

WAFCON action revs back up when the second matches of group play kick off on Wednesday, as the 12 2025 tournament teams all chase defending champions South Africa.

Zambia will hunt their first tournament victory against Senegal at 12 PM ET on Wednesday, before Nigeria looks to maintain their winning ways against Botswana at 3 PM ET on Thursday.

All 2025 WAFCON matches will air live on beIN Sports.

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