Arizona’s summer is glittering with gold and silver.
Shaina Pellington (Canada), Helena Pueyo (Spain), Kailyn Gilbert (USA) and Lemyah Hylton (Canada) medaled while playing for their national teams. Gilbert won gold at the FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship, held in Buenos Aires in June. Pueyo took home gold playing 3x3 at FIBA’s U23 Mediterranean Games in Algeria. And Pellington took home the victory at the Globl Jam event in Toronto.
All four Wildcats played with the blessing of coach Adia Barnes. Pellington called her coach “very understanding, very flexible with our schedules and what we can and can’t do.”
“To have a coach who is willing to do those things for you, I think is really, really important. More important than people think it is,” Pellington added. “It makes you as a coach, a person more desirable look up to — just more respect. You have more respect for somebody who is willing to work for you, hear you out and understand you, your future goals and your pathways.
“There’s not just one pathway for Coach Adia. She knows that there are a lot of pathways and avenues for players. … I think that’s what makes Arizona a lot different from a lot of other institutions.”
Pellington and Barnes are now working on a way to allow the Wildcats’ point guard to participate in the World Cup for Team Canada in Sydney at the end of September. The event would force Pellington — should she make the team — to miss a significant amount of school time. (As an international student, Pellington is only allowed to take a certain number of online classes combined with in-person classes.)
There’s a reason why Barnes is all-in on national teams — and not just America’s. She is also part of the USA Basketball coaching pool. Barnes was an assistant coach at the AmeriCup last summer, coaching against Pellington, and in April was a “court coach” for training camp. This has allowed her to see how this process all unfolds from her players’ perspective.
And each player’s experience is different.
Take the freshmen, Hylton and Gilbert, who both participated in the Women’s Americas Championship. Gilbert was sidelined with COVID-19. She quarantined for five days and watched the last two games, including Team USA championship win over Canada, from courtside.
“I was really, really excited and blessed just to be a part of it. … I was able to go and watch my team win gold,” she said. “And I mean, it felt just as good, like I was playing, so I’m not upset. I’m not used to certain accolades like that and just seeing my hard work finally paid off, it really meant a lot to me.”
Hylton, a captain for Team Canada, guarded UCLA freshman Kiki Rice in the gold-medal game.
“I just saw her picking her (Rice) up full court and I was like, ‘Whoa! That takes a lot of like strength to do because she is a great player,’” Gilbert said. “At times she made it very hard for (Rice), but I really liked that about (Hylton). Her defense is really what sparked my interest.”
Hylton averaged 8.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game during the tournament. She also collected 12 steals. Hylton called it “heartbreaking” to finish second, but knew it was an accomplishment, too.
“We could have not placed; we could have not made it to Worlds. We checked off a lot of the boxes that were on our list,” Hylton said. “And I think that’s what was really important. And now we know that we’re there and that we can take the next step to improve and get better and maybe win gold one day. Which is just the biggest piece for us is seeing how far we can get and continuing to push ourselves to get there.”
Pueyo, who has been part of her national team for many years, tried a new sport this summer — 3 x 3 — and struck gold. The 3-on-3 half-court game debuted in the Olympics last summer.
“It so different from actual basketball, like 5-on-5,” Pueyo said. “It’s faster — so fast you can make four points in 20 seconds. You have to be in better shape, and this game helped me to control everything better on the court. … It’s really fun.”
Pellington is also no stranger to playing for Team Canada — she’s been at it for seven years. Last summer, she played in the Olympics. This time around, she took part in Globl Jam in Toronto.
Pellington scored eight points, dished three assists and had one block against Team USA in the semifinals, and had 10 points and three assists in the final against France. She played the wing position — not her usual point guard spot.
“That was really different for me, but it was something that I had to get used to and I was trying to adjust playing off the ball more,” Pellington said. “I think that’s something I added to my game and knowing how to read from that position, as well.”
Pellington has spent extra time training with her UA coaches before and the tournament. Expect to see a few other improvements in her game this season.
“My shot has gotten a lot better,” Pellington said. “I am really working on becoming more of a consistent shooter all-around really. Consistent from the from the pull up and working on getting consistent from the three. I think that is something an area for me that has gotten a lot better. And little different things like ball handling, ball control. Defense is defense, but more so the offensive side of things.”
