PARIS (Aug. 1, 2024) – Beginning at 7:00 a.m. ET, the 2024 USA 3x3 National Teams played in four contests during their third straight day of pool play at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
After starting their Olympic mission 0-2, first-time Olympians Cierra Burdick, Dearica Hamby, Rhyne Howard and Hailey Van Lith split their pair of bouts before another crammed crowd at Paris’ Place de la Concorde.
With 2024 USA Men’s National Teamer LeBron James sitting in the front row, the USA women played against Spain in their second match on Thursday.
Despite facing a quick 1-0 deficit, the foursome choreographed a swift 6-1 spurt, complete with a stellar sweeping layup from Hamby and corner 2-pointer from Howard, to push the United States ahead 6-2.
Spain countered with a pair of layups inside, but the USA’s team defense and relentless shot-making kept the Spaniards at bay. Van Lith went into her bag with a spinning, and-one layup and deep jumper from inside the arch to extend the red, white and blue edge to 11-6.
Hamby followed that sequence with an emphatic swat and layup inside to make it 14-9 in favor of the Americans. The quartet didn’t look back from there and walked off the floor with a 17-11 win to a round of applause.
“Before the game, we felt that we were playing tight in all the previous losses,” Van Lith said after the game. “We really just wanted to play loose and play with no pressure because the only ones putting that pressure on us was ourselves. That was our goal, play loose and have fun. Hopefully that was what showed.”
Van Lith and Howard both registered five points while Burdick and Hamby combined for seven tallies. The win easily marked the unit’s most balanced offensive output of the Summer Games.
Prior to the Spanish conquest, the Americans started by tipping off against Australia, who owned third place in the pool standings entering the match.
Howard, who combined for two points in her previous two Olympic appearances, opened scoring with a 2-pointer from the corner before Australia hit a free throw and look from outside to pull ahead 3-2.
Fueled by Alex Wilson, Australia stuck with the United States for the ensuing six minutes of play. The two squads would combine for five ties up until the 2:22 mark. During the stretch, Howard netted a pair of 2-pointers while Hamby, Burdick and Van Lith went to work inside.
After Hamby gobbled up an offensive rebound and scored a layup to knot the contest at 12, Australia responded with a pair of free throws and scoop-and-score to pull ahead by three, 15-12. Howard hit another 2-pointer, this time from the top of the key, but Australia made the winning play inside.
Australia iced the contest from the free throw line and emerged with a 17-15 win. Wilson finished with a game-best eight points, Marena Whittle had five and Lauren Mansfield poured in four scores.
Howard bounced back with eight tallies off four made 2-pointers while Hamby scored four points and grabbed six rebounds for the USA women. Despite snagging 10 more rebounds and shooting a more proficient clip from the field, the Americans failed to get to the line.
The USA women will continue their Olympic quest with games vs. France at 7:00 a.m. ET and against Canada at 12:00 p.m. ET on Aug. 2.
Canyon Barry, Jimmer Fredette, Kareem Maddox and Dylan Travis, meanwhile, reinvigorated their Olympic run with contests against Lithuania and Latvia on Thursday.
Maddox and Barry, who accounted for nine of the United State’s first 10 points, set the tone for the group’s offense early on in their first game vs. Lithuania. The two exchanged 1-point scores for the first four minutes to establish a 10-6 advantage.
Lithuania drilled back-to-back 2-pointers, however, to tie it at 10. The teams followed with four ties before Lithuania rattled off six unanswered points to take a 20-15 lead. Travis and Barry cut the hole to two, but the deficit proved too vast.
The USA went 13-19 from 1-point range, a welcome sight for American fans, but dropped the game 20-18. Barry scored nine points, Maddox added five 1-pointers and lassoed six boards while Travis mustered four points and seven rebounds.
Their next contest came against defending Olympic gold medalist Latvia, who stepped onto the half-court with a 3-0 mark and first place in the pool standings.
The United States opened the game with a 3-0 cushion before the Latvians answered with a dunk and long-range make. Barry knocked down two straight 2-pointers, though, to push his crew ahead 7-3.
Barry and Maddox combined for four more points to orchestrate a 4-1 surge and morph the lead to 11-5. Latvia countered with a 6-0 run, but Travis erupted for three consecutive 2-pointers to help the USA retake a four-point lead, 17-13.
Latvia would not fade. The defending champions engineered an 8-2 run and closed the contest with a game-sealing layup. The final score read 21-19.
Barry, who ignited the 2-point barrage, notched 10 points off four made looks from beyond the arc. Travis followed with six points and three made 2-pointers while Maddox accounted for three tallies.
The men will play two more games tomorrow against host nation France at 12:35 p.m. ET and China at 4:35 p.m. ET.