October 25, 2021 

USA Basketball reveals 3×3 roster for inaugural Americup

By Tee Baker

Team will compete in FIBA 3x3 AmeriCup tournament scheduled for Nov. 12-14

USA Basketball announced its roster today for the 2021 3×3 women’s Americup. The team will represent the United States at the first-ever FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup tournament, scheduled for Nov. 12-14 in Miami, Florida. The players selected for the four-person roster are Cierra Burdick, Brionna Jones, Kelsey Mitchell and Alexis Peterson. The team will be coached by Point Park men’s basketball head coach Joe Lewandowski.

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Burdick and Peterson teamed up on the Force 10 professional 3×3 team that clinched the 2021 Red Bull USA Basketball 3×3 national title in June. Burdick was later named MVP of that tournament. The duo also teamed up to represent the USA and win a FIBA 3×3 tournament in Lithuania in July. Burdick’s USA Basketball resume also includes gold medals in the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 championship, 2010 FIBA U17 World Cup, 2011 FIBA U19 World Cup and the 2014 USA Basketball 3×3 national championship.

Jones is coming off of an All-Star season with the Connecticut Sun, who finished the WNBA regular season with a league-best 26-6 record. Jones earned Most Improved Player of the year honors for the 2021 season while averaging career-highs of 14.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. The Maryland graduate also has a gold medal with USA Basketball from the 2015 World University Games.

Mitchell, a four-year WNBA veteran with the Indiana Fever, was selected for the fourth and final roster spot. Mitchell scored a career-high 569 points during the 2021 season and finished seventh overall in the WNBA in minutes per game at 33.1 minutes. She helped lead the USA to a tournament title at the 2017 U24 Four Nations Tournament.

The Americup tournament will include a preliminary qualifying round featuring four groups of three teams. The Americans will open group play against Venezuela at 1:50 p.m. (all times EST) on Nov. 13, followed by Argentina at 5:40 p.m. 

The top two teams from each group (A, B, C and D) will advance to the medal round. Quarterfinal games will take place at 10 a.m., 10:25 a.m., 12 p.m. and 12:25 p.m on Nov. 14. Semifinal games will be later that day at 1:50 and 2:15 p.m., with the bronze medal game (3:50 p.m.) and gold medal game (4:50 p.m) following.

The winner of the 2021 Americup will clinch a qualifying berth into the 2022 FIBA 3×3 World Cup. The US 3×3 team won gold in Tokyo this summer in the inaugural 3×3 Olympic tournament.

Written by Tee Baker

Tee has been a contributor to The Next since March Madness 2021 and is currently a contributing editor, BIG EAST beat reporter and curator of historical deep dives.

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