U.S. Women’s 3x3 Basketball Team Rebounds to Olympic Bronze Medal After 0-3 Start

PARIS – The U.S. women’s 3x3 basketball team did the improbable: After starting pool play in last place at 0-3 just last week, Team USA went on a 6-1 run to secure the bronze medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

The foursome of Cierra Burdick, Dearica Hamby, Rhyne Howard and Hailey Van Lith were all smiles after securing their victory against FIBA No. 1-ranked Canada, 16-13, Monday night at the Place de la Concorde arena in Paris.

Going into Paris 2024, Team USA was the defending champion, having won the inaugural 3x3 tournament three years ago at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. While it was a different roster then, the new squad aimed to repeat with positive vibes and gold around their necks.

The mood of the U.S. was the exact opposite six days ago, however, as Team USA kicked off its 3x3 campaign with a 17-13 loss against Germany in the pool play opener. 

“I knew (the opener) wasn’t going to be pretty, but I didn't think it was going to be that ugly,” said Burdick, 30, in response to starting 0-1. “But we’re the most inexperienced team here. We got a lot of skill, a lot of talent, but that doesn’t win 3x3 games.”

Losses against Azerbaijan (20-17) and Australia (17-15) quickly followed.

Having only been gathered together weeks ago, the squad’s chemistry still needed a lot of work, according to Burdick. It didn’t help losing Los Angeles Sparks rookie Cameron Brink due to an ACL tear a little over month ago, either, requiring Howard, 24, to step in on short notice.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be pretty at the start,” Burdick said. “Three-on-three takes a lot of chemistry, and there are a lot of nuances to it that you learn with more experience. So we knew we were at a disadvantage in that category. But we just gritted it out.”

After the early losses, Burdick noted how U.S. head coach Jennifer Rizzotti talked with the team to look at their errors on both ends of the ball and figure out what they could do better.

Rizzotti was an assistant coach for the U.S. women’s 5x5 Olympic gold medal-winning team that went undefeated at the Tokyo Games. Since then, she has led the 3x3 women’s team to three gold medals in its last three straight major competitions – the 2023 FIBA 3x3 Women’s AmeriCup, Pan American Games Santiago 2023 and 2023 FIBA 3x3 Women’s World Cup.

Interestingly in 3x3, the coaches aren't allowed to interact with their players in-game – only before or after. This requires the players themselves to coach and substitute themselves throughout the 10-minute session.

Nevertheless, Team USA quickly began to figure out its chemistry problems both on and off the court, as the women went on a 4-0 run against Spain, France, Canada and China to close out the pools in what was labeled a “one-and-done situation,” according to Hamby, 30.

This placed the U.S. against China again just under three hours later in the play-in games. After a veteran showing from Hamby, where she scored a game-leading nine points and went 3-for-3 from the 2-point line, the U.S. pushed forward again defeating China, 21-13.

Burdick had nothing but praise for her teammates on making a comeback run to the semifinals.

“We could have thrown in the towel; we could have not made it.” Burdick said. “But we found a way to go on a (5-game) win streak and give ourselves a chance to get a medal.”

Drama ensued as the comeback run’s luck would come to an end one victory short of making the gold-medal game. Following a hard-fought semifinals battle, the U.S. would fall to Spain, 18-16, in overtime. After starting off the win streak against Spain last week in a 17-11 victory, this caused frustration among Team USA, being so close to doing the impossible.

Bronze was still up for grabs, though. And Van Lith, 22, wasn’t about to go home “sulking.”

“Within an hour, we went from pissed and upset – because we couldn’t win a gold medal for the USA anymore – to probably feeling a little sorry for ourselves,” said Van Lith in regards to after the semifinals. “And then we saw that Canada lost and that we would be playing Canada, and they’re an incredible team. … So we knew if we wanted to win a bronze and take any medal home for our country, we were going to have to get it together and play tough.”

In fact, Van Lith and the rest of Team USA would be going home with bronze and some smiles after all, defeating Canada on Monday night. The Wenatchee, Washington, native scored a game-leading six points to help lead Team USA to an unlikely run from starting 0-3.

Van Lith also finished the Olympic 3x3 tournament with a team-leading 49 points scored. A testament to her belief of Team USA being the toughest team until the end.

“Not always were we the most prepared team, but we were the toughest team, and we were willing to work stuff out,” Van Lith said. “So going from 0-3 to a bronze medal, I’m very proud of us and we fought through a lot of stuff.”