Sports

Dalce and Olsen Named to USA 3×3 U21 Finals Roster

Dylan Johnson, Staff Writer

September 8, 2023

Christina Dalce goes up for a layup last season. Dalce and Lucy Olsen competed this summer in China for USA Basketball’s 3×3 team.

Villanova junior forward Christina Dalce and junior guard Lucy Olsen were named to the U21 3×3 Nations League finals roster, released by USA Basketball on Sept. 5.

The finals will take place in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from September 13-15. The U21 team qualified based on the results of this summer’s Nations League conference play in Handan, China. USA Basketball’s U23 team also reached the finals after its conference play in Chile.

Olsen and Dalce were both members of the 3×3 team that partook in conference play this summer. Their team won five out of six conference games to earn themselves a first-place conference finish.

Joining them to fill out the four-person U21 team will be Minnesota sophomore guard Mara Braun and Creighton senior guard/forward Morgan Maly. Both Braun and Maly also played on the USA U21 3×3 team this summer. Maly scored in double digits each time Creighton played Villanova last season, including 16 points in an upset Bluejay win at the Finn.

Olsen and Dalce both had excellent 2022-23 seasons for the Wildcats. Both started in all 37 games. Olsen earned second-team All-Big East honors and led the Wildcats in assists. Dalce set a Villanova single-season record for blocked shots with 86. The two helped lead the team to a record-breaking season, as the Wildcats won the most games in program history.

3×3 basketball looks different than the collegiate game. It recently became an Olympic sport, with the first 3×3 Olympic tournament taking place at the Tokyo 2020 games. The 3×3 Men’s and Women’s Nations League was established in 2017.

There are some rule changes, the most notable being that there are only three players on the court instead of the typical five. 3×3 is played on a half-court with only one hoop. Games are 10 minutes long with a 12 second shot clock.

All games will be streamed live on FIBA3x3’s YouTube channel from September 13-15. The USA’s first game will be against Spain at 3:15 A.M. Eastern on Sept. 13. The USA is also scheduled to take on France at 5:55 A.M. and Jordan at 8:10 A.M. on the same day. If the Americans advance, the final day of the competition will take place on Sept. 15.