Michaela Onyenwere burst onto the basketball scene as a high school freshman, but her international debut will have to come in the future.
The supremely athletic 5-foot-11 forward from Grandview High School accomplished just about everything a young player could dream of in her first season of high school varsity basketball — setting the school record for scoring average in a season (18.7 ppg), winning a league championship and advancing to the Class 5A semifinals, making the All-Colorado team and winning Most Valuable Player of The Show all-star game played at Pepsi Center — but she was unable to crack the final roster of Team USA’s U17 World Championship Team.
Onyenwere was one of 153 prep players from across the country to attend the tryouts May 23-24 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, where 12 survivors would make up the roster of the USA U17 team, which is set to play in the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship tournament June 28-July 6 in the Czech Republic.
Just a few days after collecting four medals at the 5A state track meet, Onyenwere survived the initial cut when the field of 153 players was trimmed to 96 on May 24, but she was among the 26 players let go later in the day when the ranks dropped to 70. Those 70 included just two Colorado players — Kylee Shook of Mesa Ridge and Oliana Squires of Sand Creek — and neither moved on as the numbers shrank to 46 and then to 12.
The 2014 USA U17 World Championship Team will reassemble at the USOTC for training camp June 12-17, before the team departs on June 18 for training and an exhibition tournament in Nogent sur Seine, France, from June 20-22.
From France, the team will travel on June 23 to the Czech Republic for the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship that will be played June 28-July 6.
— Courtney Oakes, Sports Editor
Illegally Recruiting needs to end. She played for the feeder team that fed into the high school (Rangeview or Gateway one of my Sources says Gateway and two of them say Rangeview). Her Brother went and had been attending for two years at either Gateway or Rangeview. Grandview hires Owenwere’s 8th grade coach into their program & then they have Onyenwere’s brother transfer out of Rangeview or GHS to try and hide it. This just makes me sick, her parents and Grandview should be ashamed of themselves. And how does CHASSA not know. Back home in Indiana, Parents would never allow this to happen; we have to much pride and honor.