Trio of Gamecocks on McDonald’s All America Team

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Three members of South Carolina women’s basketball’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class earned spots on the McDonald’s All-America Team, the organization announced Thursday afternoon. Brea Beal (Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island), Aliyah Boston (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Academy) and Zia Cooke (Toledo, Ohio/Rogers) are all on the East Team for the 42^nd annual McDonald’s All American Games on Wed., Mar. 27, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
 
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley will welcome three McDonald’s All Americans to campus for the second time in six seasons as her 2014 signing class also had three, including A’ja Wilson and Bianca Cuevas-Moore. Including this year’s selections, Staley has signed 12 McDonald’s All Americans while at South Carolina.
 
Of the 24 player selected to the East and West teams, five are heading to the SEC as Mississippi State and Tennessee each signed a selection as well. South Carolina and Stanford lead the way with three selections each.
 
The No. 13 recruit in the Class of 2019, Beal became Rock Island’s all-time leading scorer for girls and boys last week and is scoring more than 20 points per game in her senior season. The 6-foot guard is already a two-time Illinois Ms. Basketball selection and a three-time 3A/4A all-state selection.
 
Boston is the No. 3 player in the 2019 class, and the 6-foot-4 post player has already collected three gold medals with USA Basketball and scored her 1,000th career point as a junior. That season, she recorded 19 double-doubles in 24 games, including four triple-doubles.
 
Cooke comes in at No. 7 on recruit rankings and is the No. 2 point guard of the group. Like Boston, she has USA Basketball experience, collecting a pair of gold medals wearing the Red, White and Blue. The 2018 Toledo Blade Player of the Year averaged over 20 points and five assists last season.
 
The Gamecocks’ 2019 Class also includes Laeticia Amihere (Milton, Ontario/Kings Way Christian), who has already enrolled at South Carolina, and Olivia Thompson (Lexington, S.C./Lexington).
 
2019 McDonald’s All American Games Rosters

East Team
River Baldwin, Florida State
Breanna Beal, South Carolina
Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
Jakia Brown-Turner, NC State
Samantha Brunelle, Notre Dame
Zia Cooke, South Carolina
Aubrey Griffin, Connecticut
Jordan Horston, Tennessee
Diamond Miller, Maryland
Ashley Owusu, Maryland
Sammie Puisis, Florida State
Celeste Taylor, Texas
 
West Team
Francesca Belibi, Stanford
Kiersten Bell, Ohio State
Kennedy Brown, Oregon State
Nyah Green, Louisville
Angel Jackson, Southern Cal
Rickea Jackson, Mississippi State
Haley Jones, Stanford
Jordyn Oliver, Baylor
Charisma Osborne, UCLA
Jaden Owens, UCLA
Anaya Peples, Notre Dame
Ashten Prechtel, Stanford