USA Basketball 3x3 women fall to Azerbaijan, drop to 0-2 in pool play: “We’re the most inexperienced team here”

On Tuesday, the U.S. women’s 3x3 team dropped its first match of the Olympics, a 17-13 loss to Germany that lead guard Hailey Van Lith described as “soft” and teammate Cierra Burdick admitted was “ugly.”

On Wednesday, a bad Olympic start got worse for the women’s USA Basketball’s 3x3 program, as Azerbaijan beat the United States, 20-17.

The back-and-forth game was tied at 17 with 20 seconds to go, but the U.S. couldn’t get a shot up in time, despite Burdick — the most experienced member of the team — emphatically gathering the women and drawing up a play in advance.

Then, the Las Vegas Aces’ Tiffany Hayes, a naturalized citizen of Azerbaijan, took advantage of a defensive miscommunication to get wide open for a layup. In response, Hailey Van Lith attempted a difficult three-pointer in hopes of getting USA back ahead, but that shot resulted in an airball and Azerbaijan possession.

Dearica Hamby led the way for the US with 7 points on 5-8 shooting along with a team-high 5 rebounds, while Van Lith added 4 points and 2 assists, but made just 3 of 10 field goals.

Cierra Burdick finished with 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists, while Rhyne Howard — the #1 pick in the 2022 WNBA draft — scored just a single point on 1-5 shooting. Howard, who’s more familiar with 5x5 basketball, has struggled in both pool play games so far.

Meanwhile, Tiffany Hayes was dominant for Azerbaijan, putting up 11 points and 7 rebounds. Dina Ulyanova added 6 points in the win.

Down the stretch, USA Basketball 3x3 team’s lack of experience showed for the second consecutive game.

“We’re the most inexperienced team here,” Burdick told USA Today after Tuesday’s loss to Germany. “We got a lot of skill, a lot of talent, but that doesn’t win 3x3 games. That’s a prime time example right there.”

With the loss, the US falls to last in the standings. The top two teams automatically advance to the semi-finals, to be played Monday, while the next four qualify for a play-in round in order to compete for the other two semi-final spots. So, as long as the US can get into the top six in the standings by Saturday, they stand a chance.

A rough start doesn’t mean that Team USA’s medal hopes are over, but it certainly wasn’t the start the program was hoping for. The U.S. plays two of five remaining pool games tomorrow, against Australia in the morning and Spain in the afternoon.

The remaining schedule is as follows:

Through two days of play, Canada leads the pack, while the U.S. is in 8th place: