“I turned to (guard Rhyne Howard’s)
mom and I’m like, ‘We did not come to
Thailand to get a silver medal.’
“‘What is he going to pull out? What is he
possibly going to do?’”
It was going to be a long fifteen seconds.
Howard went for the first foul, reaching
around Australia’s Isobel Anstey. Trying
to waste time by avoiding the foul as long
as possible, Antsey twisted her upper
body back in Howard’s direction.
Her elbow went straight into Howard’s
nose.
The flagrant, accidental foul gave two free
throws and the ball to the United States.
After making one of two free throws, the
ball was inbounded by mid-court.
Hillmon posted herself near the elbow,
with two of her teammates crossing in
front of her. Van Lith made her move, and
the ball was lofted over everyone to her.
She jump-stepped, faked her shot and
ducked. Her shaken defender tumbled
over her, before she banked in the game-
tying shot.
With 12 seconds left, Australia was unable
to hit the game-winning shot, sending the
match to overtime.
A team that the United States beat by 23
in the first game of the tournament was
fifteen seconds and free throws away
from winning the gold medal against the
United States. They couldn’t close it out.
In overtime, Hillmon gathered four
rebounds and scored two points. The
United States won the gold medal, 74-70.
When
the
medals
were
awarded,
they called for the captain. Anderson
watched, feet away, as her daughter —
whose dismay two years ago had worried
her so much she kept the invitation to
the trials from Hillmon to make sure she
really wanted to go through the process
again — walked forward and lifted the
trophy.
HILLMON’S QUEST FOR GOLD
5B
HILLMON’S QUEST FOR GOLD
KENT SCHWARTZ / DAILY SPORTS WRITER
PHOTOS COURTESY OF USA BASKETBALL
DESIGN BY ALEX STONE