Hazel Green High School’s Kelsi Andrews earned a spot on the 12-member USA Basketball U16 National Team after the 10-day trials in Colorado Springs. The team will compete in the 2013 FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championship June 13-19 in Merida, Mexico.

Andrews, who transferred to Hazel Green from Auburn for the second semester of last season but did not get on the court while recovering from ACL surgery, is a 6-foot-4 rising sophomore for the Trojans.

“When you first see her play [you notice] she doesn’t play her age level,” Hazel Green head coach Tim Miller said. “She’s got some moxie and competitiveness that allows her to play at a different level. She loves challenges and wants to get better.

“She’s proud to make that team,” said Miller, who kept in contact with Andrews during the trials. “She was a little nervous when she went out there, but I told her, ‘You’ll be fine. Just go out and play.’ And she did.”

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Andrews is the daughter of Carlos and Jamilah Johns Andrews. Her father played football for Mike DuBose at Alabama from 2002-04 and her mother made two NCAA Tournament runs at LSU and played two seasons at the University of Alabama, where she was a basketball co-captain as a senior. Kelsi’s older sister, Carleigh, played basketball in 2022 at Charleston Southern before transferring to Shelton State Community College. Her younger sister, Khloe, is a sixth-grader at Hazel Green.

Jamilah Andrews was head basketball coach at Holmes Community College in Mississippi for nine seasons.

“Her mom played overseas after she played at Alabama,” Miller said, “and she coached at Holmes. That’s where Kelsi grew up, sitting on the bench with her mama.”

Andrews is expected to be another weapon as the Trojans seek to defend their Class 6A state championship, their Alabama High School Athletic Association record sixth straight title.

Miller said Andrews was full speed during Hazel Green’s spring workouts after her knee surgery in August 2022. “She works,” he said. “That kid works. She didn’t get on the floor until a few weeks after the season was over. She shoots the ball well. I’m not just going to play her on the block. I’ll move her around.”

Eight MaxPreps All-Americans are on the under-16 team, including the MaxPreps co-freshmen of the year Jerzy Robinson of Desert Vista in Phoenix, Ariz., and McKenna Woliczko of Archibishop Mitty in San Jose, Calif.

The rest of the squad: Jacy Abil, Darriana Alexander, Addison Bjorn, Aaliyah Crump, Lanie Grant, Jayla Jackson, Trinity Jones, Lola Lampley and Hailee Swain.

The 2023 squad will open pool play on June 13 at 6:30 p.m. against Puerto Rico. Team USA will then play Colombia on June 14, also at 6:30, and Mexico at 9 p.m. on June 15.

Andrews is the fourth women’s basketball player from Alabama to earn a Team USA Basketball roster spot, the last being Maori Davenport of Troy’s Charles Henderson High who was on the U18 team that won a gold medal in 2018 and the 2019 Next Gen team. Others are Jeanne Ruark, Jeff Davis (1978); Susan Neville, Decatur (1979); and Deanna Jackson, Selma (2000). Two others played college basketball at the University of Alabama, Tracey Rutledge (1987) and Niesa Johnson (1996).