USA Beats ROC to Win 2021 Olympic Women's 3x3 Basketball Gold Medal

AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

In the first-ever 3x3 basketball tournament at the Olympics, Team USA defeated the Russian Olympic Committee in the women's gold-medal match Wednesday. 

Stefanie Dolson's seven points led the way for the United States in its 18-15 win. Kelsey Plum dropped five points in eight minutes. 

The U.S. and ROC looked to be on track to meet in the women's final throughout the tournament.

They were the top two teams in pool play, with Team USA taking the top spot with a 6-1 record. The Russians finished 5-2, which included a 20-16 loss to the United States on July 25. 

Team USA took control of this game right from the jump. Allisha Gray got the scoring started with a free throw nine seconds into the contest. 

After the Russians tied the score at one on their ensuing position, the U.S. rattled off five straight points to open a 6-1 lead. 

Plum and Dolson scored seven straight points for the Americans after Gray's free throw. 

The ROC battled back late. It cut the deficit to three at 12-9 on Anastasia Logunova's bucket with 3:12 remaining. It was the closest the Russians had been since the start of the game. 

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Jacquelyn Young halted the ROC's momentum by making two free throws on Team USA's ensuing possession. 

Yulia Kozik's two-pointer with 44 seconds remaining got the Russian squad within shouting distance at 17-14. Plum missed a field-goal attempt, but Dolson got the offensive rebound and putback to extend the lead to four with 31 seconds left. 

Logunova did make a one-point shot near the end of the game, but time expired before the Russians could put together a run. 

This wasn't a great performance by Team USA. It got outshot (65 percent to 56 percent), didn't make a two-point shot on seven attempts and had an 8-4 turnover disadvantage. 

Offensive rebounding proved critical for the Americans. They had an 8-2 edge in that category, which gave them 40 possessions for the game. The ROC only had 32 possessions. 

Even though the U.S. didn't look crisp in many ways, Plum, Dolson, Young and Gray will forever go down in history as the first team to win gold in 3x3 basketball at the Summer Olympics. 

Russian athletes are competing in Tokyo as the Russian Olympic Committee. Russia has been banned from the 2020 Games due to punishment handed down from the World Anti-Doping Agency after being found guilty in 2019 of operating a state-run doping program.