Park Hill South phenom Addison Bjorn has become a regular in the United States Basketball youth national team camps, but her next challenge could be her biggest one yet.
The 6-foot-2 guard has been selected to represent the United States at the 2025 Under-19 Women’s World Cup next month in Brno, Czechia.
Bjorn returns to the global stage at the conclusion of her junior year in high school and after helping the United States to dominant championship runs at the 2024 FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup and the 2023 FIBA U16 Women’s Basketball Americas Championship.
She most recently helped the United States to its World Cup title in Mexico last year, which included a double-double performance against Japan in the quarterfinals.
A native of Parkville, Bjorn has built a historic career with Park Hill South’s girls basketball team. She led the Panthers to the program’s first undefeated regular season last year — highlighted by being named a DiRenna Award winner and the Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year — and has already become the program’s all-time leading scorer with one year left of eligibility.
The USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee selected Bjorn to the World Cup team after a squad of 27 competed in a trial camp, which concluded on June 21. The 12 players selected, eligible as U.S. citizens with a birthdate on or after January 1, 2006, will return to Colorado Springs in July for final preparations before flying out for the tournament, which begins July 12.
USA will begin the 16-team tournament with pool play in Group A alongside Israel, Hungary and Korea. Their opener is against Korea on July 12 at 1:15 p.m. before taking on Hungary on July 13 at 1:15 p.m. and concluding the opening round against Israel on July 15 at 7:30 a.m. After pool play, each team advances to the Round of 16 for single-elimination knockout rounds until a champion is crowned on July 20.
Team USA will be under the guidance of a college-experienced coaching staff made up of Teri Moren (South Carolina), Jose Fernandez (South Florida) and Niele Ivey (Notre Dame).
The United States has a history of success at the tournament, winning the competition a record 10 times in 16 editions and has won the previous three editions, which included WNBA star Caitlin Clark in 2021.