One USA basketball player has hit out at the referees following a shock exit from the Olympic Games.

The USA 3×3 female basketball team suffered a shock defeat in Paris in the semi-finals on Monday, losing narrowly to Spain by a scoreline of 18-16.

USA captain Hailey Van Lith bagged eight points during the match, but she couldn’t quite lead her team to the final, with the USA now left to battle it out for a bronze medal instead.

But Van Lith did not go quietly, and after the game, she took aim at the referees and suggested that the officials actually wanted to see the US lose.

She said after the game: “This was 1000% bs. Those refs wanted the US to lose. They were flopping left and right. They are not that good. Great job ladies we know who should have won.”

The US team will now be left to take on Canada for a bronze medal, while Spain will progress to the final to battle it out for gold with Germany, who beat Canada by one point.

Both of those games take place on Monday night.

Van Lith’s explains difficulties of 3×3 basketball

Van Lith has previously spoken about the US’ struggle for success in the 3×3 variation of the sport, given the clear dominance of the full-sided game.

She told ESPN over the weekend: “I think the public doesn’t quite get the sport yet. It’s just a tough game. It’s really gritty. It’s for the tough people. You can’t be soft and play.

“We only play 10 minutes. So if you look at the first quarter of 5-on-5 games, they’re very, very close. And sometimes even the USA is down. So it’s a game of who’s hot. If our shooters aren’t hitting shots and the other team is, no matter how much better we are, we’re probably going to lose.”