East Hamilton Hoops Star Madison Hayes Begins Journey To Mongolia

  • Saturday, May 25, 2019
  • Larry Fleming

East Hamilton’s Madison Hayes, a rising senior and the 2019 Class 3A Miss Basketball in Tennessee, is about to embark on the most celebrated athletic trip of her young life.

On Sunday, Hayes will head to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to begin training camp at the United States Olympic Training Center from May 27-30 prior to flying to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to compete in the 2019 FIBA Women’s 3x3 U18 World Cup on June 3-7.

“It’s going to be very different from anything I’ve done before,” Hayes said. “I’ll be playing for my country and I’m honored to do that. The basketball is going to be a different style and that can only help me in the long run.

“Also, for me and my teammates we’ll be communicating with people from all over the world and that will really be different. I don’t know what the food will be like but I know this is going to be one of the great experiences of my life.”

Joining Hayes on the women’s team will be Olivia Cochran from Columbus, Georgia, Rickea Jackson, of Detroit, Michigan, and Hailey Van Lith, of Wenatchee, Washington.

Hayes and Cochran were teammates on the TGB 3-on-3 team that won a national championship in April. Hamilton Heights standout Treasure Hunt was also on that team.

Hayes, Jackson and Cochran all arrive in Colorado on Sunday at 6:39 p.m. on the same Delta flight. Van Lith gets into town four hours earlier.

Van Lith is the only player that has previously represented the United States and won gold at the FIBA World Cup and the Youth Olympic Games, both in 2018.

According to a release from USA basketball, the FIBA 3x3 World Cup has been held annually since 2011, except for the Summer Youth Olympic Games (2010, 2014 and 2018).

Twenty teams are expected to compete at the 2019 event, plus there are skills contests plan that give the athletes chances to win additional medals.

The teams will fly to Los Angeles from Colorado Springs on May 30 and board a flight the next day for the almost 13-hour trip to Beijing, China, and hop an Air China plane for the 2-hour flight to Ulaanbataar. Players will begin their trips to their respective homes on June 8.

Once in Mongolia, the men’s and women’s team will play preliminary round games. The women are to face New Zealand at 1:20 a.m. EDT and Russia at 4 a.m. on June 4. Two days later, they will play Poland at 1:20 a.m. and Hungary at 4 a.m. on June 6.

After pool play, teams will be seeded on their records and the top two teams from each of the four pools advance to the June 7 knockout round, starting with quarterfinal action. Winner advance to the semifinals and later to gold and bronze medal games later on June 7.

Qualifying teams for the women’s event include Mongolia, the 2018 Youth Olympic Games gold medalist United States, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Romani, Russia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and Ukraine.

The women’s 3x3 U18 teams, have a 68-8 record and captured gold at the 2014 and 2018 Youth Olympic games and 2012, 2013 and 2017 World Cups. They claimed silver and the 2015 and 2016 events and bronze medals at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and 2011 Worlds.

The Mongolia event won’t be the last this summer for the busy Hayes, not by a long shot. There are several more AAU tournaments down the road and those wrap up July 25 with the Under Armour national tourney in Atlanta.

“I get some time off on weekdays when we don’t practice,” said Hayes, who was also the District 5-3A Player of the Year and USA Today’s Player of the Year and Naismith High School All-America team honorable mention during her junior season that saw her score 800-plus points for the Lady Hurricanes, coached by Hunter Gremore.

“We usually play weekend tournaments and our last one was in Alabama,” she said. “I never get tired of basketball because it’s a game I love to play all the time.”

Hayes approaches her final year at East Hamilton with 2,229 career points, 1,220 rebounds, 353 assists, 367 steals and 178 blocks.

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmai.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)

 

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