By R.L. Bynum
It’s on to the quarterfinals for Alyssa Ustby, Carlie Littlefield and the unbeaten Seattle 3XBA team at the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series in Bucharest, Romania.
Led by those two former Tar Heels, Seattle cruised through Pool D on Saturday with dominant wins — 21–8 over Benin and 21–11 over the Philippines — to improve to 4–0 in the tournament.
Seattle plays at 9:50 a.m. ET in a quarterfinal against Poland. With a win, the team would play in a semifinal matchup at 11:25 a.m. ET against the winner of the first quarterfinal between Madrid and Ukraine. Should they advance to the championship game, that would be played at 1:25 p.m. against either CS Rapid Bucharest, the Philippines, Azerbaijan or China.
All games are streamed on this YouTube channel.
In the Benin victory, former UMass and Louisville guard Sydney Taylor led Seattle with nine points, with Ustby, Littlefield and former Ole Miss forward Madison Scott each scoring four. Ustby pulled down a game-high seven rebounds and dished out two assists, while Littlefield had five rebounds and three assists.
Ustby led the way for Seattle in the victory over the Philippines with eight points and six rebounds, with Littlefield pitching in five points, two rebounds and two assists.
Bucharest pairings
All times ET
Quarterfinals
Madrid vs. Ukraine, 9:25 a.m.
Seattle 3XBA vs. Poland, 9:50 a.m.
CS Rapid Bucharest vs. Philippines, 10:25 a.m.
Azerbaijan vs. China, 10:50 a.m.
Semifinals
Winners of first two games, 11:25 a.m.
Winners of second two games, 11:50 a.m.
Championship
Semifinal winners, 1:25 p.m.

Photo courtesy of FIBA