Team USA survives major scare against Italy, advances to Women’s World Cup quarterfinals

Everyone expected the new-look Team USA to be tested at the 2026 FIBA Women's World Cup. No one predicted that it would happen in the group stage against Italy. After all, Italy was making its first World Cup appearance since 1994, and the Americans beat the Italians by 44 at the World Cup Qualifying Tournament in March.

Yet as a tense 40 minutes in Berlin came to a close, Team USA could only stand and watch as Cecilia Zandalasini's 3-pointer floated toward the rim. If it went in, there would be overtime. Instead, it drifted well wide and Breanna Stewart grabbed the rebound to secure a 55-52 victory for Team USA.

This was the lowest-scoring game for Team USA at the World Cup since 1971.

"Italy really kinda mucked up the game for us and made it difficult for us to score," Stewart said. " Tough team. Tons of respect to what they've done. Just proud of the resiliency of this group. We haven't had a lot of time together and when things really mattered down the stretch, we were able to get big stops… A win is a win and we hope to continue to build on this."

After…

Original source: https://www.cbssports.com/