PARIS — Hailey Van Lith had six points to lead the defending champion U.S. team to bronze with a 16-13 win over Canada in the women’s 3×3 basketball at the Paris Olympics on Monday.
The U.S. won five straight games after an 0-3 start. It made it to the semifinals before falling to Spain 18-16 in overtime earlier Monday.
“We talked about it a little bit as a team going home with bronze is better than going home with nothing which we could have done after the rough start that we had,” U.S. player Rhyne Howard said. “We could have just laid down and not even been competing this far, but we stayed together, we stayed the course and we made something happen from very little.”
Canada led by a point with about 90 seconds left before Dearica Hamby made a basket and free throw to put the U.S. up 14-13.
Cierra Burdick made one of two free throws with 39 seconds left to make it 16-13 and secure the win.
While the players were happy to go home with a medal, they were a bit disappointed that they didn’t repeat as champions.
“I put years into this with one goal in mind, so when you fall short of that, your heart breaks a little bit,” Burdick said.
Sandra Ygueravide helped lead Spain past the U.S. in their semi. She made a basket in OT, where the first team to score two points wins, before Howard missed a 2-pointer for the U.S.
Hamby was then called for a pushing foul on Ygueravide to set up the winning free throw.
A shot by Howard put the U.S. up by one with 13 seconds left, but Ygueravide’s basket with five seconds left forced overtime.
Spain went on to lose to Germany 17-16 in the final.
