I hate to break it to you, but you'll have to go one more regular-column day without Jared. He'll be back to regale you with tales from his latest escapades on Thursday, but you're stuck with me again today.
Sydney Taylor Earns USA 3x3 Nations League Call-Up
Fresh off of winning gold for the US with her Cardinal teammates at the Globl Jam event in Canada, Sydney Taylor will represent the Stars and Stripes again next week in Rancagua, Chile. Taylor was named to the 3x3 U23 Nations League Team for the Americas Conference play. Taylor will be on her way to Miami Lakes, Florida for training for the remainder of this week before the team heads to Chile for the event scheduled for July 24th through the 30th.
Taylor earned her spot on the team after hitting the game winner over Canada on Sunday evening. Her three gave her 53 points over the four game tournament. The effort saw her named MVP. Taylor twice led the team in scoring and proved herself to Cardinal fans as the prolific scorer those who had watched her before already recognized her to be.
This month's conference play is a qualifier for the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League finals, which will be held September 13th-15th. The winning team from each of the 13 conferences will be invited to Mongolia for the event. The conference tournament is a brutal schedule. The competition consists of six three-game tournaments over a seven-day period. Each team can have only four players active for a game day, so the six players on the team will rotate. Head Coach Christina Batastini (Stanford 1996-2000) will have to decide between Taylor and the five who will join her for each day: Azana Baines (Seton Hall), Dyaisha Fair (Syracuse), Leilani Kapinus (Penn State), Madison Scott (Ole Miss), and Hailey Van Lith (..........LSU).
Van Lith has become a bit of a golden girl for the USA, as she participated in the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in the first week of June, where she won gold, and has also been named to the USA U24 Women's Series Team. That gold medal in June resulted in her being on the header of the league's YouTube channel (
which you can find here), where FIBA 3x3 games will be available to stream. We'll make sure to keep this link available as the event comes closer.
Until next time, Go Cards!
Case
I don't know how popular my opinion will be here, but I'm glad Van Lith is gone. She was too much of a me first, team second type of player. It's be interesting to see how many of the returning players agree.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was surprised when she left, but I think this team will be just fine without her. Sure, it'll take time to get them to play "Walz Ball" but I like the start, so far.
Nick O
Nick O
We lost a lot of games when Hailey was taking a lot, but not necessarily MAKING a lot, of shots. Forcing instead of recognizing she had teammates who could shoot also. She was better when she let the game come to her, which many times she failed to do.
DeleteI agree 💯
ReplyDeleteGood lord, give HVL a break. The kid graduated from UofL in three years with a 3.9 in finance. Will the sour grapes never end. Go Team USA.
ReplyDelete