COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.– Illinois women's basketball standout Makira Cook will participate at the 2023 USA Women's AmeriCup Team trials May 11-15 in Colorado Springs, the organization announced on Thursday.

Trials will be run by AmeriCup coaches Kamie Ethridge, Katrina Merriweather and Aaron Johnston with 22 athletes expected to participate. On the line will be a spot on Team USA as the team travels to Leon, Mexico, for the 2023 FIBA Women's AmeriCup, from July 1-9.

One of the key pieces to the Fighting Illini's success in 2022-23, Cook helped Illinois to a 22-10 overall record including the team's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002-03. The Illini returned to the rankings during Cook's junior campaign, making appearances in the AP poll for the first time since No. 27, 2000.

Across her first season at Illinois, Cook averaged a team-best 18.3 points per game and dished out 125 assists while starting all 30 games she appeared in. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native tallied a 41.4 field goal percentage and shot 34.2 percent from behind the arc. Cook led Illinois in scoring 13 times across the season and turned in 15 20-point games while scoring in double figures on 27 occasions.

Cook's 548 total points scored ranks 15th on the program's single-season scoring list and made her just the 23rd Illini to ever score 500 or more points in a season.

The guard earned WBCA All-America honorable mention honors following the stellar campaign. She also earned AP All-America honorable mention accolades during her first season in the Orange and Blue.

Cook is the first Illini player to earn All-America honors from multiple entities since Ashley Berggren in 1996-97.

Ranked fifth in ESPN's transfer rankings at the end of December, Cook was a unanimous All-Big Ten First-Team selection by the conference's coaches, and she was the first Illini to earn all-conference first-team honors by Big Ten coaches and media since Jenna Smith in 2010.

Players for the trials were selected by the USA Basketball Women's Junior National Team Committee, chaired by DePaul head women's basketball coach Doug Bruno, in collaboration with Jen Rizzotti, Connecticut Sun president and chair of the USA Basketball Women's National Team Committee.  

2023 USA Women's AmeriCup head coach: Kamie Ethridge (Washington State University)
Assistant Coach: Aaron Johnston (South Dakota State University)
Assistant Coach: Katrina Merriweather (University of Cincinnati)

*as of 5/1/23
^#Attended Harvard for four years; intends to complete NCAA eligibility at USC in 2023-24
^%Entered transfer portal in Spring 2023