Tori McKinney and Team USA claimed the gold medal at the 2026 Women’s Under-23 3×3 FIBA World Cup early Saturday morning, defeating Canada 15-10. It’s the second time that the Team USA women have won gold (2024 being the first time) in the competition that was founded in 2018. In addition, McKinney was named the MVP of the Women’s U23 FIBA World Cup.
The United States entered the competition as the 4th seed out of 20 teams, making them the top seed of Pool D. McKinney and the team began pool play 3-0, which clinched advancement to the bracket stage, before opting to forfeit the final game to Australia to rest and prepare for a championship run the next day.
The bracket stage unfolded during the wee hours of Saturday morning. In the quarterfinals Team USA defeated the Netherlands 21-17, a performance that was followed by a 21-16 victory over Spain in the semifinals. That led to a showdown with Canada in the gold medal game, the team that the USA would have faced had they played and beaten Australia to make a clean sweep of Pool D.
The gold medal game was a low scoring affair, a mix of strong defense and fatigue for the players in their third game of the day.
Team USA was one of the strongest defensive teams in the tournament, with the lowest points allowed per game of any team that advanced to the bracket stage. McKinney played a key role in that defensive performance as Team USA’s tallest and longest defender, taking advantage of that length to tally blocks in both the semifinal and gold medal games.
McKinney was stellar offensively as well, averaging more than 5 points per game as Team USA’s second leading scorer. She turned it up when things mattered most, too, leading the team in scoring in the last two games of the tournament.
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