For Texas women’s basketball junior Madison Booker, this summer didn’t mean slowing down.
Instead, the 6-foot-1 forward traveled to Santiago, Chile, to help Team USA win the gold at the 2025 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup with a 92-84 victory over Brazil in Sunday’s championship game.
The win marked her fourth gold medal with USA Basketball and her first on the senior AmeriCup stage.
“What a performance by our team,” Team USA coach Kara Lawson said after the championship. “Three weeks together and we capped it off the way we hoped — to win a gold medal.”
Booker logged 25 minutes in the final, finishing with seven points and five rebounds. Though she wasn’t the leading scorer, her rebounding, poise and defensive presence helped Team USA erase a halftime deficit of two points and hold Brazil off down the stretch.
Throughout the week, Booker carved out a consistent, steady role on a roster full of NCAA stars. In the semifinal against Canada, she posted 12 points to help her team pull away with a win. Against the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinal, she recorded 13 points, three assists and a tournament-high six steals, tying a USA AmeriCup record.
Her effort on both sides of the court showed in a group-stage matchup with Puerto Rico. With the game tied late in the second quarter, Booker sparked a 17-3 third-quarter run by scoring seven quick points.
“I liked that we went into halftime and had to figure some things out. We had to regroup,” Lawson said. “The group that started that third quarter — and Maddie — was a big part of that.
In that game, Booker finished with nine points, five assists, three blocks and two steals in just 20 minutes — one of her most complete performances of the tournament.
“Like coach said, it was a test for us,” Booker said postgame. “(We) have to learn from this moment and grow as a team.”
The tournament featured 10 national teams from across the Americas, and Team USA finished undefeated at 7–0.
This victory is Booker’s fourth gold with USA Basketball, adding to her collection of previous titles from the U16 Americas Championship in 2021, the U17 World Cup in 2022 and the U19 World Cup in 2023. She also appeared in the 2023 Nike Hoop Summit in which she led all players in rebounding.
Booker now returns to Texas with another accolade under her belt. After earning Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and first team All-American honors as a sophomore, she’ll rejoin a Longhorn team that reached the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in 2024 with championship expectations.
“First Team All-American and she’s as humble as American pie,” Texas head coach Vic Schaefer said in a June 9 interview with KVUE. “She’s just a great kid. Unbelievable parents raised her right — but I’ve got a whole team of that.”