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Reunited? Ex-Notre Dame teammates Hidalgo, Miles vie for spots on Team USA

Reunited?

Maybe.

And it feels so good?

Well, that’s also a possibility, perhaps — and one head coach Kara Lawson would like to foster as current Notre Dame two-time All-America guard Hannah Hidalgo and former Irish teammate Olivia Miles take part in the 2025 USA Basketball Women's AmeriCup Team trials beginning next Tuesday in Colorado Springs, Colo.

If nothing else, it’s intriguing.

Nineteen other college basketball standouts will join the rising junior, Hidalgo, and outgoing transfer (TCU) and fifth-year guard Miles, as Lawson and her staff have the task of paring the roster to 12 before the team departs for the actual 2025 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup competition.

The AmeriCup is set for June 28-July 6 in Santiago Chile, with Team USA playing in Group B against host nation Chile, followed by Colombia, Puerto Rico and Mexico. The full schedule is available here. The winner of the 2025 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup will earn a berth to the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup, set to be held in Berlin next September.

Lawson had to coach against the formidable backcourt duo twice this past season, with her Duke team struggling in a 64-49 loss at ND’s Purcell Pavilion on Feb. 17, then turning the tables in the ACC tourney semifinals, 61-56, March 8 in Greensboro, N.C.

Notre Dame this past season concocted a 19-game win streak with Hidalgo and Miles playing in the same backcourt, with the Duke victory part of that run as well as a double-digit victory over eventual national champ UConn. But the guards also were part of a late-season fade that ended with a 71-62 NCAA Sweet 16 loss to TCU — Miles’ new team that she’ll play in her final college season in 2025-26.

Miles was one of four players to hit the transfer portal after ND’s 28-6 season. Additionally, five players — including WNBA draft picks Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld and Liatu King — exhausted their eligibility.

Hidalgo was one of only three returning players, with head coach Niele Ivey adding five transfers this spring, and in November freshman forward Leah Macy, the latter of whom suffered a serious knee injury in late January and putting her availability for the coming season into question.

The most recent impression of Hidalgo/Miles came after the season — and off the court — during a WNBA exhibition game between Las Vegas and Dallas on May 2. At halftime, the two happened to run into each other in one of the tunnels leading to the court.

After an initial handshake, the conversation appeared to get heated, with security personnel eventually nudging the players to move along. The exchange was captured on video and posted on Twitter/X, with actual context lacking and speculation roaming free.

Both players have previous international basketball experience. Hidalgo won gold medals as part of the U17 and U19 Women's World Cup teams in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Additionally, she was named the 2023 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year.

Miles was on the 2019 USA U16 Women’s National Team that won gold at the FIBA Under-16 Women's Americas Championship in Chile.

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