Hailey Van Lith, USA 3×3 Basketball Squad Advance to Semifinal

Team USA's 3x3 women's basketball team has advanced to the Paris Olympics semifinal.

The squad prevailed over China on Saturday, eking out a 14-12 victory. This was followed by a more decisive 21-13 victory, also over China, in Saturday's knockout play-in game.

China's defense, according to Team USA's Dearica Hamby, was brutal and exacting.

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“We knew they were jamming the roll, so it was really hard,” Hamby conceded in a postgame interview. “They were super physical down there on my post-ups. We knew the pop was going to be there, and I was just confident tonight.” 

This confidence helped propel Team USA to its fifth consecutive win.

It wasn't always smooth sailing for the American team, which started 0-3. This tally includes an unexpected loss at the hands of Azerbaijan. NBA.com has the particulars.

But 22-year-old Hailey Van Lith, a former Louisville and LSU standout from Wenatchee, has evidently hit her stride in a very serious way.

Her teammates are Hamby, a 6'3 powerhouse out of Marietta, Georgia; 6'2 Cierra Burdick, of Charlotte, North Carolina; and 6'2 Rhyne Howard, of Cleveland, Tennessee. Hamby and Howard compete professionally in the WNBA.

Van Lith is the quintessential basketball wunderkind. She already holds five gold medals in 3x3 and 5-on-5.

In a previous life Van Lith played for Cashmere High School. So complete was her dominance that in 2020 she was crowned Washington Ms. Basketball.

Click here for more details of her résumé.

Below is an updated Olympic bracket:

Play-in Games

• United States def. China, 21-13
• Canada def. Australia, 21-10

• United States vs. Spain, Aug. 5, 8:30 a.m. PT
• Germany vs. Canada, Aug. 5, 9:30 a.m. PT

Bronze Medal Game

• TBD vs. TBD, Aug. 5, 12 p.m. PT