The U.S. women’s 3×3 basketball team has gone from 0-3 to moving on. Team USA fended off China in its final game of pool play on Saturday afternoon for its fourth straight win after an 0-3 start, in the process clinching a rematch against China in one of the two play-in games later today. Here’s a recap of all the action from La Concorde.
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United States 14, China 12
After a slow offensive start for both teams, taking nearly two minutes to score the first points of the game, it was China’s costly early turnovers that helped Team USA gain momentum. American Hailey Van Lith (4-of-9) burrowed her way to the rim as she has consistently for the last couple of days, pouring in a team-high six points. Van Lith’s two-pointer with 2:51 remaining in the game is when the Team USA offense finally started to gel.
With just over two minutes remaining, the U.S. executed arguably their best play of the game, moving the ball around to each American player before sinking a bucket that gave it its biggest lead of the day at 13-9.
Dearica Hamby went 4-of-8 with 4 points, while Rhyne Howard added 3 points, shooting 1-of-2 from inside the arc and 1-of-4 from beyond the two-point line.
The win locked the U.S. into the third seed and a rematch with sixth-seeded China in the play-in round at 3:30 p.m. ET. Win that one, and it’s on to the semifinals on Monday and a real shot at a medal.
Other scores
Women’s 3×3 bracket
Germany’s win over Spain capped a 6-1 record in pool play and clinched the No. 1 overall seed. By virtue of a tiebreaker (point differential in head-to-head matchups), Spain edged out fellow 4-3 teams Canada, Australia and the U.S. to snag second and join the Germans in the semifinal round. The winner of the U.S.-Chinan play-in game will meet Spain in one semifinal on Monday, while the winner of No. 4 seed Canada and No. 5 seed Australia will play Germany.
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