After a narrow victory over Italy on Sunday, Team USA bounced back with a dominant 105-64 win over Czechia to conclude group stage play at the 2026 FIBA Women's World Cup with a perfect 3-0 record. The Americans, who have now won 33 consecutive World Cup games, will be off until Thursday, when they'll face either Hungary or Japan in the quarterfinals. "You can see our chemistry slowly building," Caitlin Clark said after the win over Czechia.
"We were excited we had a back-to-back and could get out here and play again after last night when we didn't play our best... So thought we were much better on the offensive end. Played with a lot more pace tonight, played in transition better.
Thought we were good on defense. Excited to have the bye and get ready for three more games." As Team USA awaits their opponent and enjoys a few days off, let's take a look at how all 12 players performed in the group stage and hand out some grades. Without Young, Team USA would have suffered its first defeat at the World Cup since the 2006 semifinals.
Young was the only one who showed up to play against Italy, and finished with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in that narrow three-point win. What's more, she scored six of Team USA's 13 points in the fourth quarter, assisted on the go-ahead bucket with 3:20 to play and came up with a huge offensive rebound in the final minute that helped run another 15 seconds off the clock. All told, Young was Team USA's most consistent player.
She had at least 10 points and three assists in all three group stage games, and is leading the team in scoring at 11.3 points per game while shooting 53.8% from the field. Led the team with double figures, including a clutch bucket down the stretch.#USABWNT x #FIBAWWC 🏆 pic.twitter.com/AI0AAYDqp8 Bueckers has made an immediate impact in her World Cup debut. She got off to a great start with 14 points (tied for a team-high) against China, was one of the few players who could hold their head high after the Italy win (seven points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals) and had another solid showing against Czechia.
One of three players who averaged double figures in scoring in the group stage, Bueckers is tied with Breanna Stewart for second place on Team USA's scoring list at 10.3 points per game. She's also second behind Clark in assists at 3.7 and leads the team in field goal percentage (59.1%). Stewart caught a lot of flak for her 1 of 9 shooting performance against Italy, and rightly so, but she was huge on the glass in that game with a team-high 11 rebounds, and it was fitting she secured the final board after Cecilia Zandalasini's potential game-tying 3 missed.
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