While most of the country was cheering for the United States in the Paris Olympics, one event had much of the Freed-Hardeman community rooting for Spain. Ten years after leaving Henderson with a degree in nursing, Grace Alonso de Armiño made her alma mater proud by helping her Spanish 3x3 women’s basketball team win the silver medal at the 2024 Olympics.
Alonso de Armiño headlined the 2013-14 edition of the FHU Lady Lions, helping to lead Freed-Hardeman to their first national championship appearance. Her 2014-15 season rebounding average was a tie for the most rebounds per game in a single season (12.5), and in 2013-14 she placed sixth for most rebounds in a single season (416). In her career, she made her mark by playing in 141 games, the sixth most in FHU history. Her 8.4 rebounds per game placed her in seventh place in Lady Lion history, and her 236 steals are the seventh-best career total in program history.
Former FHU Lady Lion Mady (Newby) Hayes was teammates with Alonso de Armiño for one season and watched her play for her whole college career. “Grace was such a fun person and such a hype woman!” Hayes said. “She brought energy everywhere she went. She had the incredible ability to be so kind off the court, but as soon as she stepped on the basketball court, she was in full game mode and was very competitive. She wanted to win and worked hard to do it.”
Alonso de Armiño and another former teammate, Hayley (Newby) McRady, first met as high school rivals when Grace came to the U.S. as an exchange student. Later, as fellow FHU students, the two played together for four years. “It was a crazy experience when we started playing as teammates at Freed because we transitioned pretty seamlessly and worked really well together,” McRady shared. “Grace is obviously very skilled and naturally athletic and was able to pull off some moves that left all of us amazed.”
In addition to her athletic ability, she is also remembered as being “very studious.” Hayes recalls, “I remember her studying or doing nursing homework on road trip bus rides.”
“Not only was she going through the nursing program, which is difficult for anyone, but she also learned it all in a language that wasn’t her primary language while also playing basketball,” McRady added.
Alonso de Armiño graduated from Freed-Hardeman with a Bachelor of Science in nursing, and she returned to Europe to play basketball professionally. At the time of her induction to the FHU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022, she played for Zaragoza in the Liga Femenina de Baloncesto – Spain’s top level of competition. She eventually made her way onto Spain’s national 3x3 women’s basketball team.
"...it was incredible to see her play like the same Grace in college..."
A game that’s slightly unfamiliar to many, 3x3 basketball features three players at a time with just one available substitute. The teams fight over a single 10-minute period where the team that either scores 21 points first or who is leading at the end of the 10 minutes is victorious. Playing on a half-court, what is traditionally a two-point field goal counts as one point, while a typical 3-pointer counts as two.
Spain stormed through the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Debrecen, Hungary, going a perfect 3-0 through the preliminary round before topping Poland 21-13 to advance to the semifinals. Needing a win to guarantee one of the three qualifying spots, Spain needed to defeat Canada. In the final seconds, Alonso de Armiño scored the winning basket for Spain when her no-look shot gave her squad the 19-18 victory and the right to represent Spain in the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad - Paris 2024.
As the No. 6 seed in the eight-team tournament, Alonso de Armiño and Spain began their quest for a medal July 30. In their first game of the 3x3 Women’s Basketball pool round, they topped Azerbaijan 18-16. They later scored four points in the final minute of play against host nation France to secure a 17-12 victory and help move to 2-0 in pool play.
Following two tough losses to the Chinese and U.S. teams, Spain bounced back to win twice on August 2, guaranteeing a spot in the top six to advance to the knockout round. Spain first topped Australia 21-17 in 8:10 before needing overtime to defeat Canada 22-20. Despite a strong battle against the top team in the tournament, the Spanish women’s 3x3 team lost to Germany 18-15 to wrap up preliminary play with them in second place.
A tough game to watch for those in Tennessee, Alonso de Armiño and Spain had to fight through the 2020 bronze medal United States team in the semifinal on August 5. The former Lady Lion got the Spaniards on the board by taking a pass from Vega Gimeno and laying in a basket at 1:28. With five seconds left in regulation, Sandra Ygueravide bucketed her seventh point to tie the game 16-16 to for a first to take a two-point lead in overtime. The red and gold quickly got both points to guarantee a medal with an 18-16 overtime victory.
In the semifinal, Alonso de Armiño recorded three points and four rebounds in 7:37 of playing time.
With NBA royalty Dirk Nowitski and Pao Gasol in the crowd, Alonso de Armiño and Spain then faced the pool-play-winning German team for the gold medal.
La Rojas fell behind early, with Germany scoring the first three points of the game. Alonso de Armiño finally cracked through after grabbing an offensive rebound and putting the ball right back into the basket at 8:48. That sparked a 6-1 scoring run for Spain with a 2-pointer from Gimena giving Spain a 6-4 advantage.
Spain would stretch out to a game-high four-point lead halfway through the final game, but Germany piled on from deep, planting a dagger in the quest for a gold medal with a 2-pointer with 30 ticks remaining. Spain would add one more shot before the final shot fell short with Spain taking the silver medal after a 17-16 defeat.
Alonso de Armiño tallied five points in the final while grabbing two boards.
Grabbing the sixth-most rebounds of the tournament with 39 boards, Alonso de Armiño recorded more offensive rebounds than any other Olympian, pulling down 21.
During a week of Olympic excitement, the former Lady Lion had an immense cheering section in the form of friends, former classmates and teammates, and FHU supporters all over the U.S.A.
“Watching Grace play at the Olympics was such a cool moment,” Hayes shared. “I was so proud of her! It was incredible to see her play like the same Grace in college but also see her skill level hugely increase. My heart was racing for her with each game.”
McRady described the experience of watching her former rival – turned teammate – as “insane.” “I don’t know how she still does it, but she looked very similar to when she played at Freed, with the same intensity and agility. I love that she was able to compete at such a high level and still have a love for the game and her teammates.”
As Alonso de Armiño heads back home to Spain, now the owner of an Olympic silver medal, FHU alumni want to share their immense pride at all that she has accomplished.
“She took the skills she learned while being a Lady Lion and continued to build on them after she graduated which enabled her to play at a level high enough to compete and excel in the Olympics,” said McRady. “Awesome representation for the Lady Lions!”
