The USA Women’s 3×3 team closed pool play with a 20-18 loss to host Japan on Tuesday afternoon at Aomi Urban Sports Park and are the No. 1 seed going into the medal round on Wednesday.
Despite going up 5-1 early and leading 14-9 with 3:27 to play, the Americans would not be able to finish pool play undefeated as Japan scored five straight points to take a 16-15 lead late.
Stefani Dolson (Chicago Sky) led the USA with a team-high seven points to go along with three rebounds and two assists and Allisha Gray (Dallas Wings) added five points and three assists in the loss.
“The game is done,” Gray said. “It doesn’t hurt us, and we’re glad something like this happened earlier instead of in the semifinals when you don’t get another chance. So, it was good to get that loss out of the way, and we’ll be prepared for the semifinals.”
Kelsey Plum finished with just two points and had her game-tying 2-pointer blocked as time expired.
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Team USA will now await the winner of the A4/A5 quarterfinal and will return to the court on Wednesday for its semifinal at 4 am ET.
