Spain knocked the USA 3×3 basketball team out in the semi-finals, losing the game by a small deficit of 18-16. Hailey Van Lith led the American side and also managed to bag 8 points, but that wasn’t enough. However, the fans are still proud of the ladies and are rather frustrated with the officiating team in that game.

After a rough start with three losses in the competition, Team USA turned things around dramatically with five consecutive wins, proving they’re serious gold-medal contenders which must have filled excitement among the American supporters. However, after the defeat which is deemed as controversial by the fans, they’ll shift focus to the bronze medal game against Canada, but let’s take a look at what happened there in the disputed semi-final.

Hailey Van Lith, the college star from TCU who’s already a world champ, has been on fire for Team USA at the Olympics and she once again stood up for her team. Being their go-to scorer, she helped her team get off to a hot start in this game. It was her teammate, Rhyne Howard, who hit a huge shot to put the US up by one with just 13 seconds left. But unfortunately, they couldn’t hold on to the lead.

Spain’s leader, Sandra Ygueravide, wasn’t about to let it end like that. With seconds to go, she made an incredible layup to tie the game and sent it into overtime. Even in the overtime, she stepped up to the free-throw line to score the winning points. Ygueravide was a total MVP with 9 points, scoring more than anyone else on the court. Well, let’s discuss the fans frustrated emotions with the referee’s calls that they found invalid.

Fans express outrage over controversial officiating

The fans’ extreme angst following the game was clearly evident from the comments on a post from the official handle of USA 3×3 basketball. One netizen lauded Hailey Van Lith and her teammates and expressed that the USA’s defeat was already planned. “This was 1000% bs. Those refs wanted the US to lose. They were flopping left and right. They are not that good. Great job ladies we know who should have won.”

One popular name among those calling out on referees was Cyesha Goree, a former Washington Mystics player. She wrote, “The Refs were HORRIBLE”. The fans even called the Olympic semi-final rigged as another person wrote, “That sh*t was rigged!!” 

Another user straight away called out a particular incident from the final minutes of the game and expressed it was a stupid officiating throughout the game. “Such a frustrating watch with the officiating. Last call on Hamby was nonsense.”

However, there was one user who expressed a subtle disappointment in Team USA missing opportunities. “Horrible calls from the refs but you also can’t look past all the missed free throws … chin up girls, let’s go for the bronze 👏🙌” Amid controversy over officiating and passionate fans outraging, Team USA will now aim for bronze against Canada, while Spain sets its sights on gold against Germany.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host, BG12, sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.