LA Sparks 2024 Olympic Recap: Dearica Hamby leads USA 3x3 team to semifinals

Li Yueru and China still hope to reach the quarterfinals in 5x5 play and Dearica Hamby hit the game-clinching shot to send Team USA to the semifinals in 3x3.

With the Los Angeles Sparks’ Kia Nurse, Stephanie Talbot, Li Yueru and Dearica Hamby all participating in the Olympic games, we’ll be covering how the women are doing in Paris daily.

Here’s today’s recap of the action.

Team China 5x5

Yueru helped China earn their first win of these Olympic games, beating Puerto Rico 80-58. She got the start and scored 14 points on 6-8 shooting. Yueru also grabbed eight rebounds in the victory.

China was in control during the entire contest, winning each individual quarter, outrebounding Puerto Rico 48-38 and shooting 39% from 3-point range as a team compared to Puerto Rico’s abysmal 19% from deep.

Winning in blowout fashion was crucial for China. They need the point differential on their side if they are to get to advance to the quarterfinals.

China ends with a -1 point differential and is currently seventh in the standings. Belgium, Canada and Japan are the three teams with one game remaining that can take China’s spot. Each team has a -26 point differential or worse heading into their final games.

So, the only way China gets eliminated and misses the quarterfinals would be if one of these teams wins by an enormous margin.

Team USA 3x3

It’s been quite a journey for Team USA’s 3x3 team at the Olympics. They started with three consecutive losses and looked dead in the water. Since then, they’ve rallied back and won five games in a row, including Saturday’s matchup vs. China, which was 14-12.

Hamby was everywhere in this game, scoring four points, grabbing five rebounds and doing a superb job at protecting the rim against the dominant Chinese bigs.

Haliey Van-Lith had one of her best offensive games, scoring a team-high six points in the win.

Despite the poor start, Team USA finished the group stage as the third-best team in the standings. They advanced to the play-in game match, which was a rematch against China.

In the second bout, USA left nothing in doubt dominating China by beating them 21-13.

Hamby hit the game-sealing 2-point shot to end the game. It was the first time in this tournament that Team USA reached the 21-point mark needed to win the game before time expired.

Hamby didn’t just end China’s 3x3 tournament run, she terriorzed them the entire game.

She had a game-high nine points, went a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc, grabbed five boards and dished out some nice assists to her teammates leading to easy baskets near the rim.

They may have had an ugly start to their Olympic run, but suddenly Team USA looks like a force to be reckoned with.

They’ll be playing Spain in the semifinals on Monday at 8:30 a.m. PT, looking to repeat their group stage match against the Spaniards, where they beat them 17-13.

If they can pull off the win, they’ll advance to the gold medal match against the winner of Canada vs. Germany.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.