(From USA Basketball/Photo Courtesy of FIBA) – After going 1-1 in group play on Saturday, Lady Vol alum Jordan Reynolds and her USA squad advanced to the quarterfinals as Pool B’s No. 2 seed at the 2021 FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series Constanta Stop in Constanta, Romania.
The USA was edged out by Canada (2-0), 12-10, in its first game before earning a 15-9 win over host Romania (0-2) in its second and final group match-up. On Sunday, the Americans will meet Slovakia (2-0), the No. 1 seed from Pool D, in the quarterfinals at 10:25 a.m. ET.
The three other quarterfinals will feature Germany (2-0) versus Spain (1-1), Canada against Poland (1-1) and Netherlands (2-0) taking on Hungary (1-1).
The quarterfinal winners will play in the semifinals, which are set for 11:50 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. ET on Sunday, and the title game is set for 1 p.m. ET.
Against Canada in the USA’s 12-10 loss to start the day, the contest featured five tied scores in the first 3:05. A basket from Blake Dietrick (Princeton/Wellesley, Mass), knotted the score at 6-6 at 6:55, but from there the USA went cold. Not scoring for 4:49, the USA gave up three points to Canada during that stretch and trailed 9-6 at 3:18.
Breanna Richardson (Mississippi State/Conyers, Ga.) scored at 2:06 and N’dea Jones (Texas A&M/Lawrenceville, Ga.) at 1:01 to make it 9-8, but Canada scored twice to go back up 11-8. Richardson made a 2-pointer that brought the USA within one point, 11-10, at 26.0 seconds, but Canada added the final point as time ran out.
Dietrick, Jones and Richardson each scored three points.
When the USA played host Romania in its second game, a quarterfinal berth was on the line for the winning team, and the USA came out on top, 15-9. The USA held Romania scoreless for the first 3:59 while it jumped out to a 6-0 lead, including four points from Jordan Reynolds (Tennessee/Portland, Ore.).
Several times Romania cut the gap to two points, including 7-5 at 4:01 and 10-8 at 1:31, but the USA responded each time. Up 10-8, the U.S. defense gave up just one more point while Dietrick scored a 1, Richardson hit a 2 and Jones made a free throw to secure the 15-9 victory.
Richardson had seven points, and Jones and Reynolds each had four points.
