Cameron Brink and Caitlin Clark partly headline a potential changing of the guard in Team USA’s women’s endeavors.
Jason Voorhees had nothing on Cameron Brink’s jump scares at camp.
If anyone on the 2019 FIBA Under-19 Women’s Basketball World Cup’s ledgers had a chance at stopping Caitlin Clark, it may well have been her own American teammate Brink. The current Los Angeles Spark at the very least denied Clark part of a good night’s sleep as they roomed together during the tournament proceedings in Bangkok, her euphoria over a Stanford acceptance interrupting the point guard’s rare slumber.
“It feels like forever ago,” Brink, reunited with Clark at a weekend camp hosted by Team USA, recalled with a smile on Friday. “That was actually the trip that I found out I got admitted to Stanford. I remember, I think I may have woken Caitlin up, being really excited, hearing I got admitted, because I was worried about my transcripts a little bit. But she was a great roommate, and she’s still a very great friend to me.”
Fortunately for the Americans, the rest was history—and current.
Brink went on to become a Cardinal legend after she and the Iowa-bound Clark donned medals for the golden victory over Australia. The two later reunited atop the 2024 WNBA Draft board (only Clark’s coronation as the Indiana Fever’s franchise face preceded Brink moving south to the Sparks) and are now engaged in more national activities, these set to help form the roster that goes for Olympic glory on its home floor.
Team USA Reunites Brink and Clark
Partaking in the premier senior club’s December training camp marks the first time that Brink and Clark have been teammates since that fateful Thai tour. Clark is hardly surprised that they’ve run into each other so often and is grateful to have done so, even if their most-renowned endeavors have been staged in different jerseys.
“I’ve known her for quite some time now,” Clark recalled in her own statements from camp in Durham this week. Throughout college, we continued to build our relationship, and then, even now, professionally. It’s always good to see people that you’ve known for five-plus years and even longer now. The U-16 team was the first team I ever played on. I think I was 15. So it’s been almost nine years now, which is pretty incredible, the course of this journey.”
How good was the Team USA squad that won the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup? Four are in the Sweet 16 starting today. 🏆🏅
— Joshua Sánchez (@jnsanchez) March 29, 2024
Hailey van Lith (LSU)
Cameron Brink (Stanford)
Celeste Taylor (Ohio State)
Caitlin Clark (Iowa)
Paige Bueckers (UConn)
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/uwLE6lYCzL
Young and Turnt: Passing of the Torch
This weekend’s camp, staged at Cameron Indoor Stadium on the campus of Duke University, serves as a de facto homecoming for that 2019 group: tournament MVP Paige Bueckers labeled the core headlined by several of its entrants “young and turnt,” as she, Brink, Clark, and Aliyah Boston were all assembled under the watch of head coach Kara Lawson and managing director Sue Bird.
How time flies 🥹
— WNBA (@WNBA) December 13, 2025
The “Young N Turnt” Class has been showin’ out at the #USABWNT Camp! pic.twitter.com/gPbHUI05fO
Brink was pleased to report that the “camaraderie” hasn’t dulled with time and, ironically enough, was pleased to see mutated chemistry with fellow post presence and Clark’s Indiana teammate Boston. Set for South Carolina, Boston had a 12-point, 11-rebound showing in the 2019 championship triumph over the young Opals.
“There’s just a great camaraderie, and we’re continuing that, the teamwork,” Brink said. “They are three really great players. Aaliyah, I think we [especially] connected, like I could really get the ball to her in a different way. Her high-low action was really good. So I’m just looking forward to playing with them again, instead of playing against them.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
