RANCAGUA, Chile & EDMONTON, Canada (July 30, 2023) – The USA women won five of six stops 2023 U23 Nations League Americas conference this week in Rancagua, Chile, and finished atop the standings to qualify for the 2023 FIBA 3x3 Nations League Final, set for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from Sept. 13-15.
On Sunday, the USA women went 1-1, beating Venezuela 21-12 before falling to Puerto Rico 17-16 in pool play. Sunday’s final is the only one of the week-long competition that the U.S. did not qualify for. In all, the USA women went 15-2 through six days of competition, winning by a combined score of 332-181. Its only two losses coming to Venezuela and Puerto Rico by a combined four points. The U.S. had nine wins by 10+ points.
The USA men fell short in both of its matches Saturday, losing to Canada 21-13 and Argentina 21-15. The U.S. went 2-10 on the week, though had a trio of tight losses. The team was composed of players from the Colorado College men’s basketball team.
The competition will be watched on-demand on Youtube.com/FIBA3x3.
Launched in 2017, the men’s and women’s FIBA 3x3 Nations League features two age groups – U23 and U21 – with dozens of national federations competing. The 2023 USA U23 Nations League teams compete in the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League Americas Conference from July 24-30 in Rancagua, Chile. The competition features six three-game tournaments in seven days in which the six team members can substitute as needed for each day’s four-person entry. The winning team in each of 13 conference events hosted worldwide will qualify for the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League Final Sept. 13-15 in Mongolia.
In Edmonton, USA Basketball had both its Women’s Series teams – USA Open and USA U24 – at the stop of the 2023 FIBA 3x3 Women’s Series.
USA advanced to the semifinals, eventually falling to Canada 18-10 to finish third and record their third top three finish in five outings this season.
Competing in the same event for the third time this season, USA and U24 met in the quarterfinals after advancing out as the respective No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in their pools. USA took a convincing 19-9 victory over their younger compatriots as the U24 team was represented by four athletes who are 21-and-younger.
Through four games, USA was paced by Cierra Burdick, a Women’s Series veteran and 2023 3x3 World Cup champion. She averaged 5.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in four games, including a 17-16 pool play win over Germany.
A full recap for the Edmonton Stop is on usab.com.