Team USA’s dominance on the world women’s basketball stage continued Friday in Berlin and Caitlin Clark had a lot to do with it.
Clark and Paige Bueckers, both making her senior international debut with Team USA, as well as Rhyne Howard each scored 14 points to help lead the Stars and Stripes past China in blowout fashion to kick off their FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup play, 94-61.
Clark may have come off the bench for head coach Kara Lawson to start his game – Team USA veteran Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young got the nod – but she played the most minutes of any player on the team (25) and made the most of them.
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She finished the game with a double-double, scoring 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting, including three three-pointers made, with 11 assists.
Also coming off the bench was Bueckers, the Dallas Wings star whom Clark worked well with and China had no answers for. Over 20 minutes of play, Bueckers was highly efficient with her 14 points, going 6-of-9 from the field with four assists. She perhaps could’ve been the team’s leading scorer if she didn’t pick up two quick fouls, with FIBA rules setting a foul-out at five personals compared to the WNBA’s six.
CAITLIN CLARK’S RECORD-BREAKING AUGUST SETS THE STAGE FOR HER FIBA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP DEBUT
Howard was also feeling it when she checked in off the bench, raining in four three-pointers across 18 minutes of work.
Lawson made sure that every single rostered player for Team USA got time on the hardwood on Friday, and they earned it after making quite the statement from start to finish.
Team USA faced this same China team in the 2022 gold-medal game at the FIBA Women’s World Cup, where they came away victorious. They were getting tremendous looks throughout the game, shooting 45% from the field and out-rebounding China, 47-41.
The reason rebounding was a priority in this matchup was due to China’s Han Xu and Zhang Ziyu, who stand at 6-foot-11 and 7-fot-3 respectively. The height gap when they were on the floor was palpable, but it didn’t hurt Team USA as much as it could.
Stellar defense was played by everyone who stepped foot on the court for Team USA, but especially those down low like Napheesa Collier, Angel Reese, Breanna Stewart and more. Team USA tallied nine steals and six blocks, while China shot just 32% from the field and 26% from beyond the arc.
As for rebounding, Reese led the team with nine off the bench, while Stewart had seven with her seven points and Collier picked up six boards.
Finally, young provided some notable scoring early in this game, tallying 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting, while hauling in three rebounds and dishing out three assists.
Team USA will look to carry this momentum into their next matchup against Italy on Sunday at 2:45 p.m. ET.
