Villanova’s Olsen, Dalce help USA U21 team to FIBA 3×3 basketball championship

The United States U21 women’s team featuring Villanova products Lucy Olsen and Christina Dalce became champions of the FIBA Under-23 3×3 Nations League 2023 Friday in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

The U.S. defeated China in the final, coming back from a deficit to win 19-18, getting the late winning shot from Morgan Maly while Olsen, the former Spring-Ford great and rising Villanova junior, forced a miss defensively on China’s buzzer-beater attempt.

After going 3-0 in pool play on Sept. 13, the American U21 team rolled to the title with another 3-0 day in knockout play.

After dispatching Egypt 21-17 in the quarterfinals, Olsen was the star in the All-American semifinal. Olsen scored 10 points and Dalce, of Edison, N.J., added four in the U.S. U21’s 21-17 victory over the U.S. U23 team.
In the final against China, Maly and Mara Braun tied for team-high with six points each while Dalce and Olsen scored four and three points, respectively. Maly, a guard at Creighton, was the top scorer for the US and earned the MVP award for the tournament.

The title concluded a fruitful summer for the Villanova teammates with the USA U21 3×3 team. In June, the U21 team won five of six stops of the FIBA 3×3 U23 Nations League U21 Asia-Pacific tour in China.
Olsen and Dalce also competed for the USA U24 team in FIBA 3×3 women’s series play in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in late July.

Olsen and Dalce will be Villanova’s top returning scorers in 2023-24 following the departure of Big East all-time leading scorer Maddy Siegrist, now of the Dallas Wings after being the No. 3 pick in the WNBA Draft.

Olsen, a 5-11 point guard, averaged 12.4 points per game, 4.1 rebounds per game along with team highs in assists (163) and steals (50) for a Wildcat team that went 30-7 and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. Dalce, a 6-3 forward, averaged 7.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.
with a team-high in blocks (86) last winter.