History has been made in Tokyo.
The U.S. Women’s 3×3 Basketball team won its gold medal match on Wednesday, defeating the Russian Olympic Committee team 18-15 in the sport’s Olympic debut.
The team, which consists of Chicago Sky player Stefanie Dolson, Dallas Wings player Allisha Gray, and Las Vegas Aces teammates Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, played 9 games in five days, and only lost one — their final preliminary game against host nation Japan.
France lost to China in the bronze medal match earlier Wednesday.
3×3 Basketball is played differently than its mainstream counterpart, with rules befitting its streetball-style format: 3-point baskets from behind the arc are worth 2 points, while 2-point baskets from inside are worth 1. Teams have to clear the ball past the arc after a rebound.
The first team to 21 wins, but to keep things moving, if nobody hits that number in 10 minutes, whoever is ahead wins the game.
Plum led all scorers over the course of the tournament with 55 points — the Aces star and 2x Turkish League champion scored all five of her points early on Wednesday to help the U.S. team take an early lead.
Fellow WNBA players Skylar Diggins-Smith and Brittney Griner, who are playing for the U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team, watched on TV and cheered their compatriots on with pride.
“Baby, we in that gold!” Griner exclaimed in a video posted to Twitter by USA Basketball 3×3.
WNBA legend and VP of Basketball Operations for the New Orleans Pelicans Swin Cash congratulated the 3×3 team on Twitter: “Way to set the tone for the world in 3×3 moving forward”
The U.S. men’s 3×3 team failed to qualify for Tokyo.
