BERLIN – It wouldn’t be the FIBA World Cup with out the U.S. within the semifinals. The Individuals dominated Hungary in Thursday’s quarterfinal, 108-56, to supply their thirteenth consecutive semifinal look, courting again to 1979. The younger group is continuous to develop and gel collectively now by 4 video games in Germany. Each is a brand new lesson.
“There are some issues that we have to proceed to develop in on each ends,” U.S. coach Kara Lawson mentioned after the Hungary win. “We’ve talked about a few of these in the course of the sport because it was occurring, and if we have a look at the movie, we’ll discover some extra. You’re already taking part in the world’s greatest, and now that we’re within the semifinals, it will be one thing – the competitors at this stage. We have to be higher than we have been at this time to win.”
Coach Lawson famous that all the group’s gamers are both the main scorers or close to the main scorers for his or her respective WNBA groups. Thus, they’re accustomed to having fun with large nights and taking part in off each other.
“Our chemistry continues to construct,” Lawson added. “We’re 10 days in now with one another, and we’re getting really feel. I didn’t suppose we did nearly as good of a job in pool play of being disciplined (on defending with out fouling) by our requirements. I believed tonight we have been distinctive. We’ve requirements that we need to hit, and people will not be relying on who we’re taking part in. They’re relying on issues we need to do. We attempt to keep centered on these issues to win video games.”
Jackie Younger is main the Individuals with 11 factors per sport by the quarterfinals. She is wanting ahead to having off on Friday earlier than Saturday’s semifinal.
“It’s a chilling level,” Younger mentioned. “I’m simply attempting to get essentially the most relaxation as potential and a few restoration. We have to get higher off of every sport. The extra we play, the extra comfy we’re with each other. We have to get some simple buckets in transition.”
Whereas Younger gained the gold medal within the Paris Olympics, Kahleah Copper is one in all solely three gamers on the roster who additionally gained the earlier World Cup in Australia 4 years in the past. Breanna Stewart and Chelsea Grey are the others.
“Profitable is enjoyable,” Copper mentioned. “There may be nothing like profitable on the highest stage, and we all know what it takes. When that ball is shifting, we need to get the absolute best shot. Everybody on this roster, we all know what they’re doing on their respective groups. However, whenever you come right here, you sacrifice a bit little bit of that, and we get from good to nice.”
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A milestone World Cup for Hungary
Hungary was competing in its first World Cup since 1998, and the long run appears to be like shiny for the nation of solely 9.5 million. Minnesota Lynx ahead Dorka Juhász led the group in scoring at 12.5 per sport. Her 14.2 rebounds per sport are third within the World Cup behind Puerto Rico’s Imani McGee-Stafford and China’s Han Xu.
The previous UConn participant was additionally the EuroLeague MVP final season. As well as, Kinga Josepovits is an 18-year-old heart who stands 6’5 and scored 9 factors versus the U.S.
“At first, I believed it was the mentality of what they’re bringing,” Josepovits mentioned. “On protection, we couldn’t discover the gaps to make passes. On offense, they’ve a terrific taking pictures proportion, so we needed to discover different methods the way to cease them.”
Reka Lelik additionally scored greater than 12 factors per sport for the Hungarians, who will subsequent compete in EuroBasket qualifying this November. The group is in the identical group as Germany, Denmark and Portugal, with the highest two heading to the primary occasion subsequent June.
