The lowest-scoring night of their tournament
The United States scored 94 against China on Friday. Today they managed 55, and it was still enough. Italy pushed the Americans to the final possessions in Berlin before losing 55-52, a result that hands the US top spot in Group D and a direct place in the quarter-finals.
Jackie Young led the American scoring with 10 points. Angel Reese added eight. Neither number would have looked remarkable in any other game at this World Cup, which is the point: this was a defensive slog decided by three possessions, not a showcase.
The US move to 2-0 and cannot be caught at the top of the group ahead of Monday’s closing fixture against Czechia.
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Why finishing first was worth this much sweat
The format at this tournament rewards group winners in concrete terms. Top spot removes the qualification play-off round entirely and sends a team straight through to the quarter-finals in Berlin. Second place means an extra game, an extra opponent, and less recovery time.
That explains the intensity of a group-stage fixture that on paper looked routine. Italy, who beat the Americans to nothing in the past, held them under 60 points and were still within a single possession late.
China’s 74-70 win over Czechia earlier in the day had already tightened the group, leaving the US with no margin to experiment.
Two games, two very different American teams
Friday’s win over China was the Caitlin Clark game. She came off the bench, produced 11 assists with no turnovers, and broke Alyssa Thomas’s US record for assists in a World Cup match. All 12 American players scored that night.
Sunday asked a different question. Italy denied the passing lanes that Clark had carved open against China and forced the US into a half-court grind, where the scoring came in single figures across the roster rather than from a runaway rotation.
Winning that kind of game, badly, is what teams tend to point at later in a tournament. The quarter-finals are already secured. Monday against Czechia now decides only how the rest of the bracket looks.
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