Group USA’s dominance on the world girls’s basketball stage continued Friday in Berlin and Caitlin Clark had quite a bit to do with it.
Clark and Paige Bueckers, each making her senior worldwide debut with Group USA, in addition to Rhyne Howard every scored 14 factors to assist lead the Stars and Stripes previous China in blowout vogue to kick off their FIBA Girls’s Basketball World Cup play, 94-61.
Clark could have come off the bench for head coach Kara Lawson to begin his sport – Group USA veteran Chelsea Grey and Jackie Younger bought the nod – however she performed probably the most minutes of any participant on the group (25) and made probably the most of them.
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Caitlin Clark of the USA Girls’s Nationwide Group dribbles the ball throughout a sport towards China on the FIBA Girls’s Basketball World Cup 2026 on Sept. 4, 2026, at Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin, Germany. (NBAE)
She completed the sport with a double-double, scoring 14 factors on 4-of-9 capturing, together with three three-pointers made, with 11 assists.
Additionally coming off the bench was Bueckers, the Dallas Wings star whom Clark labored effectively with and China had no solutions for. Over 20 minutes of play, Bueckers was extremely environment friendly together with her 14 factors, going 6-of-9 from the sector with 4 assists. She maybe may’ve been the group’s main scorer if she didn’t decide up two fast fouls, with FIBA guidelines setting a foul-out at 5 personals in comparison with the WNBA’s six.
CAITLIN CLARK’S RECORD-BREAKING AUGUST SETS THE STAGE FOR HER FIBA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP DEBUT
Howard was additionally feeling it when she checked in off the bench, raining in 4 three-pointers throughout 18 minutes of labor.
Lawson made positive that each single rostered participant for Group USA bought time on the hardwood on Friday, and so they earned it after making fairly the assertion from begin to end.
Group USA confronted this identical China group within the 2022 gold-medal sport on the FIBA Girls’s World Cup, the place they got here away victorious. They have been getting large seems to be all through the sport, capturing 45% from the sector and out-rebounding China, 47-41.
Napheesa Collier, Kahleah Copper, Breanna Stewart and Chelsea Grey of the USA Girls’s Nationwide Group look on throughout a sport towards China on the FIBA Girls’s Basketball World Cup 2026 on Sept. 4, 2026, at Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin, Germany. (NBAE)
The rationale rebounding was a precedence on this matchup was as a consequence of China’s Han Xu and Zhang Ziyu, who stand at 6-foot-11 and 7-fot-3 respectively. The peak hole after they have been on the ground was palpable, however it didn’t harm Group USA as a lot because it may.
Stellar protection was performed by everybody who stepped foot on the court docket for Group USA, however particularly these down low like Napheesa Collier, Angel Reese, Breanna Stewart and extra. Group USA tallied 9 steals and 6 blocks, whereas China shot simply 32% from the sector and 26% from past the arc.
As for rebounding, Reese led the group with 9 off the bench, whereas Stewart had seven together with her seven factors and Collier picked up six boards.
Lastly, younger supplied some notable scoring early on this sport, tallying 12 factors on 5-of-11 capturing, whereas hauling in three rebounds and meting out three assists.
Paige Bueckers of the USA Girls’s Nationwide Group performs protection towards the China Nationwide Group throughout the FIBA Girls’s Basketball World Cup 2026 on Sept. 4, 2026, at Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin, Germany. (NBAE)
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Group USA will look to hold this momentum into their subsequent matchup towards Italy on Sunday at 2:45 p.m. ET.
