FIBA World Cup 2026 Results, Day 2 Group Box Scores, Highlights & Day 3 Schedule Before KO Bracket
Saturday’s FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup action started out with an upset.
Mali kicked off the day of group phase competition in Berlin by securing an upset of world No. 6 Spain.
Here’s a look at Saturday’s results and highlights from Germany.
Saturday Results
Saturday Highlights
Sika Kone recorded a double-double to help Mali start out Saturday’s action with an upset win over Spain.
The game started out with a tightly-contested first half that saw Spain take a two-point lead into the break.
Mali took over in the third quarter by going on a 12-2 run on their way to outscoring Spain 31-19.
Mali protected that advantage during the fourth quarter to close out the upset win.
Kone’s double-double made her the first player since at least 1994 to achieve the feat in five straight Women’s World Cup games, per Opta.
The victory marked Mali’s first of the tournament after suffering a 102-97 loss to Japan Friday. The team will look to ride that momentum into a Monday matchup against Berlin.
Spain will look to get back in the win column the same day against Japan after falling to 1-1 in the group stage.
Hungary staved off a late comeback push from Nigeria as Dorka Juhasz and Virag Takacs-Kiss recorded double-doubles in the team’s first win of the tournament.
Nigeria fell into an early deficit thanks in part to a first-half double-double from Juhasz. Hungary ultimately went into the halftime break with a 10-point lead.
Nigeria started to push back in the second half before a clutch shot from Elizabeth Balogun got the team within two points of a tie score in the final seconds.
Reka Lelik ended the game by drawing a foul and making both ensuing free throws to close out Hungary’s win.
Hungary will look to carry momentum from Saturday’s victory into a Monday matchup against Korea, while Nigeria continues seeking its first victory of the tournament the same day against France.
Germany rode the momentum of a dominant first quarter in front of a home crowd to a blowout victory over Japan.
After conceding a 30-point blowout loss to Spain Friday, Germany bounced back by outscoring Japan 28-11 in the first quarter.
Japan fought back during the second quarter to cut the deficit to five points by the half.
Germany squashed Japan’s hopes of a comeback by outscoring the other team 40-29 in the second half to secure their first win of the tournament.
Both Germany and Japan will head into their final group phase game with 1-1 records. Germany is scheduled Monday to play Mali, while Japan is slated to face Spain.
France 95, South Korea 69
South Korea wasn’t able to capitalize on a hot start, as France ended up securing a lopsided victory.
South Korea opened the game with a 5-0 lead and maintained a 31-24 advantage at the end of the first quarter, but France jumped back in front by starting the second quarter on a 14-0 run.
France ended up holding a six-point lead at halftime before breaking the game open by outscoring South Korea 33-15 in the third quarter.
Marine Johannes showed off her long-range accuracy for the French squad, finishing with a game-high 17 points while shooting 4-of-7 from three-point territory.
Dominique Malonga scored 14 points of her own while making her presence felt defensively, amassing three steals and one block.
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