LA Sparks 2024 Olympic Recap: Dearica Hamby wins bronze medal, Stephanie Talbot advances to quarterfinals

Dearica Hamby and the Team USA 3x3 team captured a medal while Stephanie Talbot and Australia moved onto the quarterfinals.

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 a recap of the action over the last two days.

Team USA 3x3

Monday was medal day for Team USA, though it didn’t go exactly as planned. After a loss to Spain to open the day, USA met Canada in the bronze medal game and came away victorious, winning 16-13.

A suffocating Canada defense forced a number of shot clock violations early for USA and allowed them to open a 7-3 lead. UA got back into the game behind Hailey Van Lith and Rhyne Howard, tying the game at 9-9.

A quick burst from the Canadians moved them back up 12-9. A critical technical foul against Canada helped USA get back into the game and an and-one for Hamby had USA up 14-13 with just over a minute remaining.

With USA clinging to a 15-13 lead in the final seconds, a huge offensive rebound from Cierra Burdick with seven seconds remaining effectively sealed the win and the medal for America.

Team USA had every chance to advance to the gold medal game in their first contest of the day. HVL had perhaps her best game of the Olympics, helping USA to an early lead as part of her eight-point performance.

Spain, though, took advantage of Team USA being a foul-happy group to get back into the game. The two sides went to the wire and big baskets from HVL and Howard had USA ahead with 10 seconds remaining, but Spain cut backdoor on Dearica Hamby in the final seconds for a layup to send the game to overtime.

In a first-to-score-two-points format, Spain connected on a bucket on the first possession and, after USA came up empty on a two-pointer that would have won the game, Hamby committed a foul that gave Spain free throws and the win.

Hamby had five points and seven rebounds against Spain and

Australia 5x5

Stephanie Talbot and the Aussies pulled off a big upset on Sunday afternoon, knocking off the hosts France to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.

After being tied at the half, a big third quarter from Australia helped them come away with the victory. Stephanie Talbot finished the game with seven points, six rebounds and five assists on 2-5 shooting in 28 minutes in the win.

Australia will meet Serbia in the quarters at 5 a.m. PT. The winner will face the winner of USA and Nigeria for a spot in the gold medal match.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.