Provo • BYU women’s basketball coach Jeff Judkins said last fall that new recruit Shaylee Gonzales would become one of the best players in school history when all was said and done.
Gonzales proved that assessment to be on target her freshman season, as she led the Cougars in scoring with a 17.0 average and helped them win the West Coast Conference tournament title and an NCAA Tournament game.
Gonzales is in Colorado Springs, Colo., this week as one of 30 athletes invited to participate in the 2019 USA Women’s U19 World Cup Trials. Tryouts to select the 12-member team run through Sunday.
A 5-foot-9 guard, Gonzales starred at Mesquite High in Gilbert, Ariz., before picking BYU over offers from several Pac-12 programs. She is the 2018-19 WCC Newcomer of the Year and made the all-WCC First Team and the all-WCC Freshman Team.
After leading the Cougars to the WCC tournament championship, she made the all-tournament team.
If Gonzales makes the USA U19 team, she will participate in training camp July 5-19 and the U19 World Cup will take place July 20-28 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Gonzales, who was BYU’s Female Rookie of the Year at the annual Y Awards, is one of 16 tryout invitees who recently completed their freshman season at an NCAA Division I school. Ten recently graduated from high school and the other four are rising seniors in high school.
George Washington University head coach Jennifer Rizzotti chaired the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team committee that issued the invitations. Louisville’s Jeff Walz will coach the team in Thailand.
