Hebard wins gold at USA Basketball 3×3 national tournament

April 24, 2018

USA Basketball 3×3 national champs

Ruthy Hebard of Fairbanks collected some more hardware as she joined forces with University of Oregon teammates to win the USA Basketball women’s 3-on-3 national championship game.

This is the third major medal as a member of USA Basketball for the 6-foot-4 All-Pac-12 forward, who also won gold with the U18 team at the FIBA Americas tournament in 2016 and a silver with the U19s at the FIBA World Cup in 2017.

Hebard, of West Valley High fame, scored six points in the final as the Ducks beat Bye Felicia 21-5 in the final to cap an 8-0 record in the 3×3 tournament.

Oregon also featured Sabrina Ionescu, Erin Boley and Otiona Golden while Bye Felicia was comprised of older former college players, including a Temple Hall-of-Famer and another who was a former 3×3 national champion.

The Ducks prevailed in a pair of pool-play games in dramatic fashion, beating Issa Bucket 21-20 and Pacific Broncos 21-19 in overtime.

They outscored opponents 63-29 in the medal round.

Ruthy Hebard basketball

Ruthy Hebard

Let’s face it, Hebard straight dominated this year.

She became a 1,000-point career scorer, set an NCAA record with 33 straight field goals, broke Oregon’s single-season field-goal percentage record (.660), was named All-Pac-12 and honorable mention All-American, and won the Katrina McClain National Power Forward of the Year award.