After 0-3 start, Rhyne Howard and Team USA rally for bronze in 3x3 basketball at Olympics
After a rocky start to its Olympics, Team USA’s women’s 3x3 basketball team battled back to earn the bronze medal on Monday in Paris.
The squad, which included former Kentucky women’s basketball star Rhyne Howard, lost its first three games in France before bouncing back and winning the next four plus a play-in game to reach the semifinals.
Despite an overtime setback, 18-16, against Spain in the semifinals Monday, the Americans still had a shot to take home bronze against Canada, and they did just that with a 16-13 victory.
“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,” Howard said, according to a report by ESPN. “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.”
Howard, now with the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, scored four points and grabbed a rebound against Canada in the bronze medal matchup. Hailey Van Lith, a former Louisville star who transferred to LSU and then Texas Christian for the upcoming season, led the way with six points and two boards. Dearica Hamby and Cierra Burdick added three points apiece while Hamby had a team-high six rebounds.
All three of Howard’s made baskets were from one-point range (traditionally a two-pointer) and her other point came on her lone free-throw attempt. She missed all three of her attempts from long range.
“After we lost this morning and had our gold dream crushed, we were down. We were kind of feeling sorry for ourselves. It took a lot of mental toughness just to compete in this game,” Van Lith said afterward, according to a report on the Paris Olympics website. “I hope the people at home have a lot of respect for the teams in this tournament. There are a lot of great teams.
“Even beating Canada for this bronze medal is a big win for us. The USA is new to 3x3 so we are hoping to grow the game and next time get the gold. But we still got a medal for our country.”
Germany defeated Spain 17-16 for the gold medal.
Monday’s game was the second time the United States defeated Canada in overtime at the Olympics. After opening pool play with losses to Germany (17-13), Azerbaijan (20-17) and Australia (17-15), the Americans defeated Spain (17-11), France (14-13), Canada (21-19, OT) and China (14-12). A 21-13 play-in win against China put Team USA in the semifinals and in position for a medal.
This story was originally published August 5, 2024 at 4:11 PM.