A Rising Star and a Team on the Rise
The Israeli Under‑18 women's basketball team is competing in Division B with the explicit aim of earning promotion to Division A for the upcoming summer tournament, a milestone that would significantly elevate the sport's profile within the country.
At the heart of the squad is 16‑year‑old point guard Maayan Gorin, who has been averaging 16 points per game in the current competition and is widely regarded as the key catalyst for the team's promotion hopes.
Gorin's basketball journey began on the soccer fields of her hometown before friends encouraged her to try basketball, a switch that led her into the Gilboa/Maayanot youth department and later to Crestwood Preparatory College in Toronto, one of Canada's elite basketball academies.
Having previously guided the Israel U16 side to an 11th‑place finish at the FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship — where she averaged 20 points, three assists and nearly five rebounds — she now brings that experience to the senior U18 level, where the team emphasizes cohesion and peak performance.
Her long‑term goal is to earn a scholarship at a top university and eventually compete in the WNBA, a pathway that mirrors the growing pipeline of Israeli talent abroad, while the squad's immediate focus remains on playing as a cohesive unit and delivering its best on the court.
The quarterfinal match against Iceland is scheduled for Friday, August 6, 2026, and a victory would place the Israelis in a strong position to clinch promotion, underscoring both the individual ambition of players like Gorin and the broader growth of women's basketball in Israel.