Force 10’s Linnae Harper, center, dribbles toward the basket against opposing team members during the Red Bull 3X basketball tournament in Brooklyn on Saturday. The Seattle Storm ownership group put together a pilot program with Alexis Peterson, Cierra Burdick, Harper and Megan Huff to travel the country and play in USA Basketball Red Bull 3x3 Tournaments. (AP photo)

NEW YORK — Alexis Peterson and her Force 10 teammates see themselves as the “Founding Mothers.”

They are the first group of women to be sponsored by a WNBA team to play 3-on-3 basketball. They hope it’s just the beginning.

The Seattle Storm ownership group put together a pilot program with Peterson, Cierra Burdick, Linnae Harper and Megan Huff to travel the country and play in USA Basketball Red Bull 3×3 Tournaments. By doing so, the team will earn points for the U.S. to help them qualify for the 2020 Olympics. It will also earn the four players on the Force 10 team points to potentially qualify them to Tokyo next summer to play in those games.

“I think it’s amazing. First group of women to do it at this level,” Peterson said. “It’s not often you can say you are a part of something at the beginning. We were a part of that. Ten, 20 years from now, we can say we were the ones who started that and we were the ones who led the way and got women more of a chance to play.”

The Storm ownership group of Lisa Brummel, Ginny Gilder and Dawn Trudeau began researching the possibility of fielding a team about a year ago. Force 10 CEO and Storm general manager Alisha Valavanis said it was a no-brainer for them to get involved.

“We wanted to start something and it is an investment in this sport,” Valavanis said. “Not only for these players, but for the game to grow, the business of basketball to grow. That is what this is about. We received the WNBA’s support in this pilot program.”

The Force 10 players were honored to be chosen and definitely are inspired by the fact that the team was started by women.

“There’s something really special that the first team is being sponsored by a WNBA team that is owned by women,” Burdick said.

Valavanis sees the possibility that teams across the WNBA could sponsor 3-on-3 teams. Right now, there are 144 potential roster spots on WNBA teams. If each team were to sponsor a 3-on-3 team, that would add another 48 potential jobs for women.

The Force 10 program also helps USA Basketball. Unlike 5-on-5, where teams like the U.S. can just choose from its pool of players to put forth a very good team, the Americans first must earn enough points to qualify as a country for the Olympics next year. Only seven countries will join Japan on the men’s and women’s side in the new event.