The Morning Post-Up, Vol. 9 — Canada earns 3×3 AmeriCup gold with competitive win over Brazil

3×3 AmeriCup: Canada continues 3×3 excellence, USA grabs bronze

The second edition of the marquee 3×3 event in the Americas saw plenty of upsets and drama, despite its fairly predictable end results. Team Canada has had a season for the ages, winning gold at the FIBA Women’s Series Final earlier this year, and silver at the 3×3 Open World Cup. They entered as favorites, but quickly came against a Brazil team ready to re-establish itself on the 3×3 scene. Despite getting silver at the AmeriCup in 2021, Brazil had not qualified outright for the event, and needed to play through the qualifying round before entering the preliminary games.

Brazil would handily defeat Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados to advance into Pool B, where they sent shockwaves through the tournament, beating Canada 21–7. Most impressively, they held Michelle Plouffe, widely considered the best individual player in 3×3, to just one point and prevented her from scoring a single field goal. Brazil’s Vitória Marcelino emerged as the player to watch, as she wracked up 11 points, including a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc, in the win. Brazil would rank first in Pool B, while Canada took the second spot.

Meanwhile, Team USA made their way through Pool A, beating both Colombia and Guyana to rank first. They scored just 12 points in the win over Colombia, however, as Lexie Hull struggled to get her shots to fall and the Colombia defense prevented USA from going on any significant runs. With Canada coming in second, this put USA on a collision course for a rematch against Canada, who had knocked them out of medal contention at the World Cup.

USA, Canada, Brazil and Colombia all advanced through the quarter-finals and into the semi-final, where the semi-final between Team USA and Team Canada would live up to all the hype. NaLyssa Smith finally had a breakout game and had success getting herself to the free throw line; she would lead Team USA with seven points. Camille Zimmerman, Team USA’s lone 3×3 veteran, continued to orchestrate key plays for the team, logging two key assists, four points and one block. Yet, when it came down to the final minutes of play, Canada’s Plouffe sisters, Michelle and Katherine, had the edge.

Together they caught Team USA off-guard with their signature back-door cuts and suffocating transition defense. With the score tied at 15 apiece and 12 seconds to play, Katherine found Michelle under the basket, who almost immediately forced a shooting foul on Zimmerman. Michelle would sink the two critical free throws, sealing the win for Canada and sending Team USA to the bronze medal game against Colombia.

In the 3×3 AmeriCup final against Brazil, Canada came prepared. The competition was fierce as the two teams went back and forth through the first four minutes of play. Canada then took a slight, 2-point lead, but it was enough to keep Brazil at bay. Brazil would never lead, as they struggled to get perimeter shots to fall against Canada’s defense. Brazil used the free throw line to catch up and cut the lead to one, but a critical layup from Michelle stabilized the two-point Canada lead. A final set of two free throws from Michelle would secure the valiant win for Canada.

Team USA repeated their performance against Colombia from the qualifying round, taking advantage of Colombia’s early fouls to get to the free throw line and take advantage. USA kept their defense tight, limiting free throw opportunities for Colombia and limiting their paint points. In the 17–13 bronze-medal performance, Smith and Zimmerman combined for 13 points and nine rebounds, and had eight free throw attempts between them.

Michelle led Canada in the gold medal performance with nine points, two assists, four rebounds and one block in the win. She was tabbed as MVP of the 3×3 AmeriCup tournament and was named to the team of the tournament. She was joined by USA’s Zimmerman and Brazil’s Marcelino, who was the tournament’s leading scorer.

On the block

Games of the Week, all times in Eastern

• Em Adler’s NCAA Games of the Week:
  • Tuesday, 11/8: Tennessee @ Ohio St., 8:30 p.m., BTN
  • Thursday, 11/10: UMass @ Tenn., 6:30, SEC Network; Creighton @ SD, 8:00 p.m., ESPN+
  • Friday, 11/11: SC @ Maryland, 6:00 p.m., ESPN2 (following WNBA draft lottery); Nova @ Princeton, 7:00 p.m., ESPN+
• EuroLeague:
  • Wednesday, 11/9: DVTK @ Sopron, 12:00 p.m., EuroLeague Women YouTube
    • SOP: Brittney Sykes, Ezi Magbegor, Jelena Brooks
    • DVTK: Darcee Garbin, Arella Guirantes, Cheridene Green
• EuroCup:
  • Wednesday, 11/9: Galatasaray @ PNC, 12:00 p.m., FIBA YouTube
    • GAL: Azura Stevens, Alaina Coates, Merve Uygül
    • PNC: Ke’Shunan James
  • Thursday, 11/10: Gorzow @ SBB, 1:00 p.m., FIBA YouTube
    • GOR: Alanna Smith, Lindsay Allen, Tilbe Senyurek
    • SBB: Jacaira Allen
• WNBL Round 2:
  • Wednesday, 11/9: Boomers @ Flyers, 2:30 a.m., FIBA YouTube

WNBA Off-Season

Movement, hires, and more

• Our Howard Megdal broke the news that the Dallas Wings would hire Latricia Trammell, a former assistant for the Los Angeles Sparks, as head coach.
• Cheryl Reeve signed a multi-year deal to come back to the Minnesota Lynx as head coach and president of basketball operations. Our Lucas Seehafer details Reeve’s return to the team and her hopes for the future.

Dish and swish

Recent results to know

• NCAAW Highlights
  • Blowouts:
    • Iowa State beat Cleveland State, 87–54. Double vision for Iowa State, as Ashley Joens led all scorers with a 28-points, 11 rebounds, five assists and two blocks and Stephanie Soares notched 15 points, 14 rebounds, four steals and four blocks.
    • Nebraska beat Omaha, 100–36. Efficient offense was the name of the game for Nebraska. Jaz Shelley notched 10 assists; Isabelle Bourne led all scorers with 21 points on 10-for-15 shooting; Maddie Krull came off the bench to log 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting.
    • Virginia Tech beat Mount St. Mary’s, 101–45. Cayla King’s 33 points headline a dominant Virginia Tech performance. Georgia Amoore had 11 points, six rebounds and nine assists on five turnovers.
    • Oregon beat Northwestern, 100–57. Grace VanSlooten led Oregon with 20 points on 10-for-16 shooting; Endyia Rogers placed eight assists; Jenna Isai came off the bench to put up 17 points on 3-for-6 shooting and a near-perfect 9-for-10 free throws. Despite giving out minutes up and down its bench, Northwestern couldn’t find an answer. Caileigh Walsh was the lone Northwestern player to log double digits, with 15 points.
    • Maryland beat George Mason, 88–51. Incoming transfer Abby Meyers led Maryland with 19 points, six rebounds and three assists; Star guard Diamond Miller logged 11 points and two blocks before exiting with an apparent knee injury in the second quarter.
    • LSU beat Mellarmine, 125–50. Angel Reese’s 31 points on 11-for-14 shooting (9–15 FT) and 13 rebounds headlined LSU’s opening day. LSU had six players with double-digit points and two double-digit rebounds.
    • South Carolina beat East Tennessee State, 101–31. Aliyah Boston had an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double; Zia Cooke led SC with 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting. SC had six players in double-digit points.
    • Iowa beat Southern, 87–34. Caitlin Clark notched 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting (5–7 FT) and nine rebounds; Iowa owned the glass, grabbing 51 total rebounds and shooting over 80% from two.
    • Stanford beat San Diego State, 86–48. Kiki Iriafen led Stanford with 16 points on a near-perfect 7-for-8 shooting and six rebounds; Talana Lepolo put up 11 assists.
    • Notre Dame beat Northern Illinois, 88–48. Olivia Miles led Notre Dame with a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double, along with six assists and six steals. Casual day at the office for Miles, no doubt.
    • South Florida beat Morehead State, 87–40. Sammie Puisis led USF with 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting and six rebounds; Dulcy Fankam-Mendijiadeu had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double.
    • UCLA beat Cal Poly, 84–48. Charisma Osborne led UCLA with 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting (6–6 FT), nine rebounds and five assists; Kiki Rice logged 12 points and seven assists in her first game for UCLA.
    • South Dakota beat Midland University, 106–41. Alexi Hempe and Grace Larkins combined for 36 points and nine rebounds; Larkins also had six assists and four steals.
  • Other highlights:
    • Louisville beat Cincinnati, 87–68. Hailey Van Lith had 28 points on 12-for-20 shooting, but Cincinnati’s Braylyn Milton matched it, with 28 points of her own on 9-for-12 shooting and an impressive 5–5 from 3-point range. Cincinnati out-scored Louisville by six in the third, and went a staggering 69 percent from three as a team, to Louisville’s 23 percent. It was enough to match Louisville’s defense, as they grabbed 14 steals and out-rebounded Cincinnati by 12, but enough to give the No. 7 ranked team a good scare.
    • Oklahoma beat Oral Roberts, 105–94. Oklahoma led early, but ORU would out-score them by 19 in the second half. Oral Roberts’ Tirzah Moore led all scorers with a massive 25-point, 17-rebound double-double. ORU had three other players in double-figures, though Oklahoma’s bench scoring, 18 points from Skylar Vann, helped keep them afloat.
    • Georgia beat Coastal Carolina, 78–61. No Georgia player scored more than 14 points; Brittney Smith and Javyn Nicholson combined for 26 points on 11-for-21 shooting and 15 rebounds; Coastal Carolina’s Anaya Barney came off the bench to score 16 points, five rebounds and three assists.
    • Arizona State beat Northern Arizona, 69–68. Jaddan Simmons led ASU with 22 points on 7-for-11 shooting and six rebounds; Meg Newman came off the bench for ASU to score nine points and 11 rebounds; Northern Arizona’s Montana Oltrogge and Regan Schenck combined for 37 points; Schenck logged 13 assists and four steals.
    • Kentucky beat Radford, 82–78. Kentucky led through the first three quarters, but Radford was close behind and out-scored Kentucky in the fourth, 26–19. Jada Walker led Kentucky with 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting; Radford’s Rachel Lalonde led all scorers with 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting (3–3 3pt.) and five rebounds.
    • Creighton beat South Dakota State, 78–69. SDST took the early lead, but Creighton came from behind in the second half to get the win. Creighton’s Lauren Jensen led all scorers with a massive 30 points on 10-for-20 shooting (3–7 3pt., 6–6 FT); Myah Selland put up 22 points and four assists for SDST.
    • Howard beat La Salle, 62–57. Howard took the early lead, but the teams were incredibly evenly matched; La Salle made it competitive in the final minutes, despite the loss. Iyanna Warren led Howard and all scorers with 18 points on 3-for-12 shooting (10–12 FT, 2–4 3pt.) and five rebounds.
    • Providence beat Dayton, 69–60. Individual scorers owned this one; Janai Crooms notched 20 points for Providence on 7-for-13 shooting (6–9 FT) and nine rebounds; Providence had three other scorers in double figures. Dayton’s Destiny Bohanon and Nayo Lear combined for 42 points. Lear’s 20 points came on 8-for-9 shooting.
    • Mercer beat Middle Tennessee, 76–75. The mid-majors came to play in a highly competitive season opener; Mercer had the early lead, but MTSU battled back, coming up just short. Amoria Nealy-Tysor posted 32 points on 10-for-14 shooting (8–9 FT) for Mercer; Jalynn Gregory had 20 points (4–8 3pt., 6–6 FT) for MTSU.
    • Canisius beat Buffalo, 57–55. Upset alert! Canisius took the early lead, and despite scoring just nine points in the third quarter, out-scored Buffalo by 10 in the fourth to come away with the win.  Dani Haskell led Canisius with 17 points on 6-for-15 shooting; Zakiyah Winfield led Buffalo with a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double, four assists and three steals.
    • Harvard beat Rhode Island, 88–74. Harvard took the early lead and never looked back; a massive 33-point third quarter gave them a significant cushion that URI couldn’t overcome. Harvard’s Harmoni Turner led all scorers with a huge 31 points on 11-for-19 shooting (2–3 3pt; 7–7 FT), five rebounds and five assists on seven turnovers; Maye Toure led Rhode Island with 27 points on 11-for-14 shooting (5–6 FT) and five rebounds.

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Next, read…

• NCAA Conference previews! Get them while they’re still hot:
  • Gabriela Carroll has you covered for the Big Ten
  • Tyler DeLuca has the latest from around the Big 12
  • Mitchell Northam was on the floor at ACC media day and brings you all the details
  • Natalie Heavren gets you the scoop from inside the Atlantic 10
  • Scott Mammoser checks in with Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference (AAC)
  • Mitchell Northam logs a Big South preseason notebook
  • Rowan Schaberg kicks off our Mountain West coverage