Team USA pushed to brink before escaping Italy in World Cup thriller
BERLIN – As they gathered in the center circle of Berlin Arena, looks of relief all around, the United States players did not appear to be a team that had just advanced in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. The U.S. will play in a quarterfinal in search of a record-tying fifth straight gold medal, but only after a sudden reality check that kept its 55-52 victory over Italy in doubt until the final frantic seconds.
The 32nd consecutive U.S. victory suddenly revealed an unexpected sense of vulnerability. Not since 1967 had the U.S. scored fewer points in a victory in this tournament, a 42-38 win over Australia on the way to a last-place finish. The 55 points became the fewest scored by the U.S. in any World Cup or World Championship game since a 68-51 loss to France in 1971.
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“We shot 10-for-35 in the paint, 29%,” said U.S. coach Kara Lawson. “Layup, after layup after layup, from any number of players. And you know, the percentages say we won’t shoot 29% in the paint again. My takeaway is, even if we do, we have enough to win and we’re tough enough to win either way.”
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The U.S. will face 0-2 Czechia at 2:45 p.m. EST on Monday after avoiding what would have been one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament.
Italy, ranked 14th by FIBA, came into the game having just won a game for the first time since 1994 and has never finished higher than fourth place. In the last four gold-medal winning tournaments, the U.S. raced through the Group Phase with average margins of victory no less than 19.3 points and by as many as 42.3.
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All that history meant very little on an evening when flamboyant coach Andrea Capobianco, dressed in suit and tie at the start, lost the tie, abandoned the jacket and was demonstrative in the demands to his players. The U.S. dominance meant nothing as Cecilia Zandalasini, Italy’s leading scorer with 14 points despite early foul trouble, went up for a 3-point shot in the final seconds. Zandalasini’s rushed attempt, seconds after she appeared to be inadvertently hit in the face by U.S. defender Jackie Young, was wide of the basket.
The U.S. finished the game shooting 16-for-56, including 1-for-12 from 3-point range. The lone 3-pointer did not come until 1:50 left in the third quarter, when Paige Bueckers nailed a shot from the right wing. Caitlin Clark would finish the game without a field goal, shooting 0-for-6 and only scoring one point.
“Italy really mucked up the game for us a little bit and made it difficult for us to score,” said Breanna Stewart, whose shot with 3:20 to play – her only field goal on a 1-for-9 night — put the U.S. ahead 51-50, the last time the lead would change.
The Americans were able to win on the defensive end of the court, forcing 18 turnovers and holding Italy to 31% shooting, including 2-for-15 from beyond the 3-point line.
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“I think just controlling our effort and our energy and just coming out on the defensive end,” Young said of her team’s strengths. “You know, sometimes you’re going to make shots, sometimes you aren’t. So, it’s on us to just play hard at all times.”
Young led the U.S. with 10 points, shooting 4-for-6 from the field, while adding four rebounds and three assists. She was only American to finish the game in double figures and shoot more than 50% from the field. Young’s shot with 2:51 to go gave the U.S. a 53-50 lead after Chelsea Gray had drawn an offensive foul on Zandalasini.
Gray’s shot from the lane with 1:07 to go gave the U.S. a 55-50 lead, but Matilde Villa’s basket with 57 seconds left brought Italy within 55-52.
“Obviously, it’s a new group,” Young said of the national team. “We’re playing with a lot of new people, new lineups, things like that. We were trying to figure some things out, but you know, I think it was good for us to have a game like that today.”
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The first quarter went well for the U.S., outscoring Italy 19-8 and jumping out to a lead that grew as large as 15 points. The following three quarters were an entirely different story. The Americans would struggle to put the ball in the basket, only scoring 36 points over the next 30 minutes of play.
“You have to be able to win in different ways in this tournament because every team stylistically is a bit different,” Lawson said. “And you do have to be able to win when you don’t have your fastball. We didn’t have our fastball tonight but we figured it out late and we’ll grow from it. Every game is more information for us.”
Gaining experience in a close contest and facing this type of adversity may come to benefit the U.S. in the next week, as the knockout stages will surely test the young roster.
“I’m just proud of the resiliency of this group,” Stewart said. “You know, we haven’t had a lot of time together and when things really mattered down the stretch, we were able to get big stops and offensively, make big baskets. A win is a win, and you hope to continue to build on this going forward. But this is a tough tournament.”
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On Sunday night, the U.S. learned just how tough the tournament could become. At the end of the evening, the applause from the boisterous crowd of 9,232 was directed as much toward the team that had lost. Zandalasini had headed toward her coach, who held her face in his hands. During the team’s press conference, although a translator was available, Zandalasini shared what Capobianco had just said.
“His dream when he started to coaching was to make every day, every player better than the day before,” Zandalasini repeated. “So this is this is why he’s here, to make us better, and I think we did a step above today.”
Carter Jones is a graduate student at IU Indianapolis and part of the Sports Capital Journalism Program. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar TV: Fever for in-depth analysis, behind-the-scenes coverage and more.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Team USA pushed to brink before escaping Italy in World Cup thriller
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