RI native Christina Batastini brings winning ways to FIBA 3x3 women's basketball tourney

Providence native and former Stanford women’s basketball player Christina Batastini has made a home in Mexico City for the past week, where she is currently coaching USA Basketball’s team in the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League Americas Tournament.

There are six teams from North and South America competing in the tournament from July 22-28, and the winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the World Cup, which will occur in September in Mongolia.

More: RI women's coaches Tammi Reiss and Christina Batastini joining forces with USA Basketball.

More: Bill Reynolds: Batastini perfectly suited to make Mount a girls basketball powerhouse.

So far, Batastini’s group is undefeated through the first four days of competition and sits about 100 points ahead of the next closest team, but they have not quite clinched the win yet, she said.

“You're playing a lot of the same teams over and over again, and the nature of 3x3, every time you step on the court, regardless of if you played the opponent before, the game is so fast and there are so many variables, that you're never guaranteed a win,” Batastini said.

In Batastini’s eyes, the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League is “definitely not for the faint of heart.”

She described it as the highest volume one of its kind, as players compete in up to three games per day, with two guaranteed and the third if they win both. Teams carry six players out of necessity for player rotation.

The 3x3 game differs from traditional 5-on-5 in a few ways. Namely, it is a 10-minute game, unless a team scores 21 first. A traditional three-point shot is worth two and a layup or jumper is worth one point, which makes being able to shoot increasingly more important. Defensively, guarding the arc takes precedence, and it’s hard to switch defense at risk of giving up important points. There is also a 12-second shot clock, allowing for “maybe one or two actions,” like a screen or a read, Batastini said.

“3x3 requires the players to be really efficient and quick decision makers in ways that in five-on-five you don’t necessarily have to be because it’s a longer game,” Batastini said. “A great five-on-five player doesn’t necessarily make a great 3x3 player, but playing 3x3 will definitely make you a better five-on-five player.”

“It’s all about basketball IQ, decision-making and executing your fundamentals and your strategy in a really short amount of time.”

The Olympic 3x3 team is comprised of four players, two of whom come from teams like Batastini’s. Players accumulate points in 3x3 when they compete for the U.S., and when selecting the 2028 Olympic team, two of the top-10 point-scorers must make that team.

“Behind the scenes, we're playing here in preparation for the ‘28 Olympics, in terms of gaining points for players, in terms of developing our young players, so that in 3½ years, they'll be the next up and ready to go.”

Before arriving in Mexico City, Batastini got some time to train with her players, who include some of NCAA’s best, during the WNBA’s All-Star Weekend last week.

Her team includes Christina Dalce (formerly of Villanova, now with Maryland), Morgan Maly (Creighton), Cotie McMahon (Ohio State), Lucy Olsen (Iowa), Mikaylah Williams (Louisiana State) and Sarah Williams (Wisconsin). They trained with the 3x3 Olympic team, and after three practices alongside the Olympians, Batastini's team competed against the Olympians as part of the All-Star Weekend.

“It was the first time ever in the history of 3x3 that it's been televised on ESPN,” Batastini said. “We played the Olympic team really well. We played them tight, we only lost by three, so I was really pleased with our effort.”

While Batastini’s playing career and coaching career mostly consists of five-on-five play, her previous involvement in USA Basketball and in 3x3 led to her taking the helm of the U23 team.

“It was kind of a slow onboarding. Now, I’m pretty much in the rhythm of coaching 3x3,” Batastini said. “It’s been an amazing experience.”

Three summers ago, she coached the women’s 3x3 team for the first time at the Maccabi Games in Israel. At USA Basketball, she had previously held coaches' clinics and reached out to Jay Demings, another Rhode Island native, who oversees 3x3 in the United States.

From there, she watched some 3x3, including the U18 trials, and became a court coach for the gold-winning World Cup team in 2023, where she supported head coaches Jenn Rizzotti and 2024 Olympics USA 3x3 assistant coach Tammi Reiss, the Rhode Island women's basketball head coach. Batastini has coached multiple U24 and U23 teams, including another Nations League team, and most recently was a court coach for the Olympics trials this past spring.

“It was in the last Olympics, but now it’s gaining a lot of traction and a lot of popularity," she said. "I’m getting involved at a really interesting point where it’s going to get increasingly more popular.

“The timing has been perfect for me to get involved.”

Not only is 3x3 becoming increasingly popular, but so is women’s basketball. For Batastini as a former player and mother of a 15-year-old daughter who plays, the exposure of and interest in women’s basketball “bodes so well for future generations of girls basketball players, and now finally, young players, young girls have role models to look up to.”

“It’s just been a long process and a long journey. There have been so many women in the past who have been just excellent basketball players, but there just wasn't the exposure, there wasn’t the interest. It's what women who play basketball have always deserved, and maybe some of us who didn't have that opportunity in the past, we're not mad about it. It’s so exciting to see.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI native Christina Batastini brings winning ways to FIBA 3x3 women's basketball tourney