Sunday, December 22, 2024

Cameron Brink, Rhyne Howard, Cierra Burdick, Hailey Van Lith make up U.S. women’s Olympic 3×3 basketball team

Must read

Cameron Brink, Cierra Burdick, Rhyne Howard and Hailey Van Lith will make up the 2024 U.S women’s Olympic 3×3 basketball team that will go for a second straight gold medal, USA Basketball announced on Wednesday.

Three of the four team members — Brink, Burdick and Van Lith — represented the U.S. at the 2023 FIBA 3×3 World Cup, which ended with a gold medal. Burdick was on the squad that won the event in 2014.

All four players participated in the 3×3 national team camp recently in Springfield, Massachusetts, and took part in the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series Springfield Stop where they were runners-up to Canada.

The U.S women won the inaugural tournament during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, beating ROC 18-15 in the gold medal game.

The Olympic women’s 3×3 team will be lead by head coach Jennifer Rizzotti, who currently serves as president of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun.

How 3×3 differs from the 5×5 game is that games are 10 minutes long with a 12-second shot clock and are played on a halfcourt. Games are to 21 points with 1- and 2-point baskets. Should a team not reach 21 points, whoever is leading when time is up is declared the winner.

Two members of the team currently play in the WNBA, with Brink, 22, in her rookie season with the Los Angeles Sparks, and Howard, 24, playing her third year with the Atlanta Dream. Burdick, 30, played five seasons with six WNBA teams and has played in Europe since 2021. Van Lith, 22, transferred to TCU this spring after spending the 2023-24 season at LSU and her first three years in college at Louisville.

Latest article