USA Basketball Women Collect Inaugural FIBA 3x3 World Championship Gold Medal

-- Adesanya, Diggins Earn Silver In Dunk Contest, Skills Challenge, Respectively  --

August 26, 2012

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The 2012 USA Women’s 3x3 World Championship Team (9-0) went undefeated in capturing the inaugural FIBA 3x3 World Championship for Women on Sunday night in Athens, Greece. Defeating Australia (8-1) 19-18 in the semifinals, the U.S. came from behind to capture gold with a 17-16 victory over France (8-1) in the gold medal game. Australia edged Ukraine (6-3) 18-17 in the bronze medal game.

In addition to her women’s team gold medal, Skylar Diggins (University of Notre Dame/South Bend, Ind.) claimed silver in the skills challenge, while Adetayo Adesanya (Naperville, Ill.) earned silver in the dunk contest.
           
“No, it never gets old ever,” said Diggins, who has now earned four gold medals playing internationally for USA Basketball. “This is one of the most memorable definitely because it was the first time ever. We’ve all been talking about this, in 100 years they’re doing this in the Olympics, when we’re old, we can tell our kids that we were in the first one. When it’s added to the Olympics and things like that.”
           
“I can’t say enough about the women’s team,” said USA Basketball 3x3 Director Travis Johnson. “They fought, and fought and fought and just pulled it out. They maintained and held strong to the end. Through this whole process, from training camp through the tournament, they never had a ‘say die’ attitude. Never. Even when they were at practice, they were like, ‘we have to work on this, we have to work on that. We have to be strong together.’ That was their attitude the whole time and it showed in their game tonight against France. France was a stronger team tonight, but at the end of the game the USA prevailed.
           
“As far as the guys team, these guys played with so much heart for the past two months. For them to take everything in as an experience, not having played at the USA Basketball level and not being sure as to what that entailed, they now have a better concept and a better idea about what it means to represent their country.”
           
“I just wanted to get the crowd involved initially,” said Adesanya following his silver-medal winning dunk. “I had some great suggestions from my teammates. We talked about a few different things. But, when you actually get out there on the court in front of all the fans and the lights, you do have a plan beforehand, but when it came down to it I had to go with my gut with what I thought was going to provide the best results.”
           
Falling behind France 7-2 early on, the USA fought back with gritty defense and tough teamwork to claim the lead, 10-9, with less than five minutes to play in the 10-minute game.

“When they got up on that 7-2 lead it was really intimidating,” said Chiney Ogwumike (Stanford University / Cypress, Texas). “At the same time, the funny thing is that I didn’t really realize it because I was so into the game. It’s very back and forth. It’s a game of momentum and strategy and I’m glad our strategy prevailed.”

However, France put together a 4-0 run and was back in front 13-10 at 3:51. Not ready to capitulate, the U.S. put together a 5-0 run that was jump-started with a Diggins free throw at 3:22. Bria Hartley (University of Connecticut / North Babylon, N.Y.) tied the contest 13-all with a 2-pointer at 3:01 and hit the USA’s next two buckets and with 1:55 to play, the Americans owned a 15-13 edge.

“I think we knew we had to buckle down, and we looked each other in the eye and said, ‘Let’s go, let’s turn this around, let’s step up defensively,’” said Hartley. “That’s what we did and we picked it up on offense as well.”

The teams swapped baskets and with nine seconds remaining, Ogwumike got a feed inside from Hartley to put the U.S. back up by two, 17-15. In an attempt to keep France from scoring, Hartley fouled her French counterpart and it was deemed an intentional foul. France hit the free throw for what was to be the final point of the game and got the ball back with two seconds on the clock. However, the USA’s defense kept France from getting a good look at the basket and the buzzer sounded with the U.S. in possession of the gold medal.

The 2012 USA 3x3 men’s team consisted of Adesanya, Ira Brown (Corsicana, Texas), Tyree Hardge (Surprise, Ariz.) and Allen DuBois Williams (Tempe, Ariz.); while the 2012 USA 3x3 women’s team was comprised of Diggins, Hartley, Ogwumike and Ann Strother (Castle Rock, Colo.).

The 2012 USA 3x3 Men’s World Championship Team advanced as far as yesterday’s medal quarterfinals and concluded play with a 5-2 record. Serbia (8-1) defeated France (8-1) 16-13 for the men’s gold medal, while Ukraine (7-2) captured the bronze medal with a 19-18 overtime win over Israel (5-4).

The inaugural FIBA 3x3 World Championship featured 24 men’s teams and 24 women’s national teams divided into four preliminary round groups of six teams each. The top four finishing teams from each group advanced to the Eight Finals (Round of 16), with winners advancing to the quarterfinals. The victors of the four quarterfinals competed in the semifinals and medal games. Also featured during the weekend was a skills contest for women, a dunk contest for men and a shootout contest for both men and women.

The skills challenge was won by Estonia’s Pirgit Puu, Diggins claimed the silver medal and dual bronze medals were awarded to Turkey’s Burcu Cigil and France’s Sylvie Gruszczynski.

Winning gold medal in the dunk contest after jumping over a motorcycle for a perfect score of 30 was Venezuela’s Deivi Añanguren Madriz. Adetayo missed his first few attempts to fly over three kids en route to his dunk and claimed silver after receiving a 28, while Georgi Bojanov of Bulgaria and Ometayo Ogedengbe from England were awarded bronze medals.

The U.S. did not advance an athlete to the finals of the shootout, which was won by the Czech Republic’s Stanislav Votroubek, with Bulgaria’s Radoslava Bachvarova claiming silver, while Russia’s Mikhail Gyunter and Germany’s Charlotte Hoere were awarded bronze medals.

In addition to the men and women’s tournaments, 14 nations participated in the mixed tournament, in which each team was comprised of two men and two women in a knockout format. The U.S. did not compete in the mixed competition. France (4-0) claimed the gold medal after downing Argentina (3-1) 14-8 in the championship game, while Ukraine (3-1) secured the bronze medal with a 15-8 victory over Czech Republic (2-2).  

France had a chance to sweep the team golds as the only nation to advance men’s, women’s and mixed teams to the gold medal game, but came away with one gold and a pair of silver medals.

Under FIBA’s 3x3 rules, each game will consist of one 10-minute period, with one 1:00 overtime period if needed. If the game is still tied after the first overtime, a second and final overtime is played and the first team to score two points wins. The team leading after completion of regular playing time, or the first team to score 21 points is declared the winner. Shots made outside the arc are awarded two points, shots made inside the arc are awarded one point, and each made free throw is worth one point. Additionally, a 12-second shot clock is utilized.

Additional Quotes >>

Adetayo Adesanya
What was your strategy in the dunk contest?
To be honest, I just wanted to get the crowd involved initially. I had some great suggestions from my teammates. We talked about a few different things. But, when you actually get out there on the court in front of all the fans and the lights, you do have a plan beforehand, but when it came down to it I had to go with my gut with what I thought was going to provide the best results.

While I’m sure you would have preferred a team medal, are you happy about coming home with the silver in the dunk contest?
It feels good. I’m not going to lie, my No. 1 focus definitely was the team competition, but I’m happy I was able to compete at a pretty high level in the dunk contest as well.

How did it feel when you received your silver medal?
Oh man, I just … I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s a feeling that I’ve only had once before. I kind of compare it to that feeling of when I became an All-American and received the All-American trophy. It’s a big accomplishment. Even though it’s not quite winning, which I definitely would like to have done, but I was still very proud of how I was able to perform. I’m thankful and blessed.

What did you get out of the overall experience?
The experience was amazing. The training for it was great. Going through the trenches with these guys. We were really out there battling. If we could do it all over again we probably would have prepared a little bit more and in a different way. But, that’s what anybody would say, right? But during the time here, it’s just been amazing. Being able to compete against some of the top, top talent across the world … there were guys here who have been playing with each other for years and they’re all professional. We’re playing against so many professional basketball players. It’s a nice feeling to know that I can compete at a very high level against these guys. There was no guy here that I felt was better. We tried to do what we could to make it happen.

Skylar Diggins
You had to fight through both games today, does that make the gold medal sweeter?
Absolutely, because with women’s basketball, we’re known to dominate, and I don’t think they thought we were going to dominate this time. I think the title is more for countries that traditionally aren’t as good as other countries in five-on-five. We had a chip on our shoulder coming out; we wanted everyone to represent. For the first time, the Americans were kind of the underdogs to France, I felt like. We were sitting by the pool and this guy didn’t know we were sitting there and he was like, ‘France is going to win.’ We’re used to being the favorites, and we always work hard, but this was a little different. We had a closer game and we weren’t able to dominate as much as we do in five-on-five.
 
You’ve won gold at the FIBA U19 World Championship, World University Games and FIBA Americas U18 Championship. Does winning gold medals ever get old?
No, it never gets old ever. This is one of the most memorable definitely because it was the first time ever. We’ve all been talking about this, in 100 years they’re doing this in the Olympics, when we’re old, we can tell our kids that we were in the first one. When it’s added to the Olympics and things like that.
 
What did you learn at the 3x3s that can help your game this year at Notre Dame?
Knowing shot clock situations, I think this is great for that. Some of the plays and stuff that we did, it was a part of our offense. We implemented that. In this game, it’s such a short game, it’s so instinctual. The 12-second shot clock definitely helped us in late-shot-clock situations. Different situations like isolations, and high-lows, and different team stuff that applies to five-on-five, applies to this as well. I definitely will take some of that with me to Notre Dame.
 
Walk me through the Skills Challenge. What was involved and how do you feel about your silver medal earned in that event?
It was a series of ball-handling things and the first day we did it, I got the highest time pretty nonchalant. When I went through this time, I mishandled the ball and finished it. I still finished, I thought I was going to win, but I mishandled it and I lost it.
 
What will you remember most about this experience?
I think just seeing everybody come together to represent their country, people that don’t necessarily get a chance to be out here. The excitement of this event with music in the background, playing half-court, fans on top of you, the whole atmosphere and environment was great for basketball. It was outside. It was so different from anything I’ve been a part of playing basketball. This event is so special, so different, and that is why it is definitely unforgettable.

Bria Hartley
You won a FIBA U19 World Championship and now a FIBA 3x3 World Championship. How does it feel to be a two-time world champion?
It feels good. The feeling doesn’t change. The 3x3 is new to me, and new to a lot of us, to come out here and win that, especially in that game, it was really close and a tough game coming back from down 7-2. I think it was all about pride. I remember being on the court and being like, ‘Guys, we’ve got to win this,’ and we turned it around.
 
Your team got down early, but you never gave up. What does that say about your team?
We’re players that are competitive. Skylar, I’ve been playing against her plenty of times, and Chiney, we’re just really competitive. This entire trip, there are only four of us. We all became really close being together all that time on the court. We were able to talk to each other and tell each other what we need to do. I think we knew we had to buckle down, and we looked each other in the eye and said, ‘Let’s go, let’s turn this around, let’s step up defensively.’ That’s what we did and we picked it up on offense as well.
 
What did you learn at the 3x3s that can help your game this year at Connecticut?
Definitely half-court stuff, getting to the basket. I think this game is a lot more physical because of how you have to finish around the rim. I think this will help when I go back to play at UConn.
 
What will you remember most about this experience?
I think that this is the first-ever 3x3 World Championship. To be the first-ever world champions, not only for the USA, but the first-ever for any country, I think says a lot and is something to remember as you get old.

Chiney Ogwumike
You won the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship gold medal with Bria Hartley and the 2011 World University Games gold medal with Skylar Diggins. Did that make it more special when you had the FIBA 3x3 World Championship gold medal hung around your neck?
Definitely. It was sort of like a generation gap. We were trying to prove that throughout all levels of USA Basketball we really set the gold standard. I was really happy to experience that with Sky and Bria again, because it sort of brings us together more. And also Ann, Ann was a Pan American silver medalist and a bronze medalist at another games, she was like ‘I haven’t gotten a gold yet.’ So, we were really happy that Ann got handed the trophy first, because it was her first gold medal and it really meant a lot to her.

You had to fight through both games today, does that make the gold medal sweeter?
Oh, definitely. The layout of the game, basically you have to score quickly and keep them back. When they got up on that 7-2 lead it was really intimidating. At the same time, the funny thing is that I didn’t really realize it because I was so into the game. It’s very back and forth. It’s a game of momentum and strategy and I’m glad our strategy prevailed.

What did you learn at the 3x3s that can help your game this year at Stanford?
It’s very one-on-one oriented and also every possession counts. It really helps you, because if you’re going to take a mid-range jump shot, you might as well make that a three. For a big man, learning how to develop your game on the outside on the international 3-point line, it helped me a lot personally. Other than that, the one-on-one skills and being able to play straight-up defense, really is the key points for three-on-three.

What will you remember most about this experience?
Honestly, this might be the most precious gold medal because three-on-three makes the game so much more competitive. We had to work hard every step of the way. I don’t think we had an easy game at all. I think that when you can go to a country you’ve never been to before, one that’s breathtaking like this, then getting to meet all the people in the other countries, making friends, having them cheering you on to win, and then knowing that you’re doing it for your country on top of it all, it just made this whole experience overall one that I’ll always remember. Every time I get on the medal stand I think it’s the best time, but honestly this was the best thing. We worked the hardest for it. Just four people trying to win a gold together, it was just amazing.

Ann Strother:
You won a bronze medal at the 2001 FIBA U19 World Championship and a silver medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. Now you have a FIBA 3x3 World Championship gold medal. How did it feel to stand on top of the podium with the gold medal around your neck?
It feels great. It feels like it finally ended the way it was supposed to. It’s been great to be here and play with these guys and win a gold medal with USA Basketball.
 
You had to fight through both games today, does that make the gold medal sweeter?
Absolutely, I think when you’re in a situation where you really have to fight for it, it makes it even sweeter. I think it would have been a letdown had it been too easy. France was tough, Australia was tough, and really every team competed and played hard. It definitely made it sweeter.
 
Your team got down early today, but you never gave up. What does that say about your team?
They’re incredible competitors. I think at 7-2, in a game like this, you can come back as easily as hitting two (two-pointers).  You can’t ever get down, there’s not time to think about being down, or worry about the score. It was fast and fun and great.
 
What will you remember most about this experience?
All of it, really. The gold medal definitely stands out. For me, I feel like I haven’t been able to play at this level and with players that are this good for a while. It was so much fun to be playing at this level again. Maybe this is the last time I step on the court in this competitive atmosphere, and to end with a gold medal in the World Championship, I don’t think it gets much sweeter than that.