BERLIN – Trailing in the final three minutes of a FIBA World Cup group stage game isn’t something the U.S. women’s basketball program is accustomed to. However, that is where the team found itself during its 55-52 win over Italy on Sunday.
“You just have to be honest with yourself and as a team when you have a performance that is below your level,” U.S. coach Kara Lawson said in the postgame press conference. “I know our history is so accomplished and the expectation is for us to win, but every single one of those wins came hard.”
After opening with a man-to-man formation and falling behind in the first quarter, Italy smothered Team USA with its zone defense. The Americans shot 28% for the game and were 1-of-12 from long distance. The roster is younger than the one from the Paris Olympics, but still, this was a U.S. team that dominated China in its opening 33-point win, shooting 50 % and collecting 12 three pointers.
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“I thought Italy played with great force and great passion,” Lawson said. “They controlled the game for long portions. It wasn’t our best outing, especially on the offensive end. Defensively, holding a team to 52 points is hard to do. You have to be able to win different ways in this tournament because every team stylistically plays a little different. You do have to win when you don’t have your fastball, and we didn’t have our fastball tonight. I thought the charge Chelsea took was a big momentum-changing play. It was an incredible, winning play. Not allowing them to get a quality look at the basket when we were up by three was great. We had moments where we were really tight defensively, and that is encouraging. We just need to stretch those out.”
Breanna Stewart, the decorated forward playing in her fourth World Cup, was limited to 1-of-9 shooting. Her only basket of the game proved to be the one that ended Italy’s final lead with 3:20 on the clock.
“I’m just proud of the resiliency of this group,” Stewart said. “We haven’t had a lot of time together, and when things really mattered down the stretch, we made big stops. Offensively, we were missing some easy ones. We had a rough night shooting overall. We can’t let one play affect the rest. That’s why I was 0-for-whatever until the end. As great basketball players, we need to keep shooting. We are going to see zone a lot in this tournament, and we need to make sure we are on the same page with what we are trying to defend.”
On the other side, things could not have gone better. Italy is playing in its first World Cup since 1994, and its senior national team had not faced the U.S. since the Goodwill Games that same year. Cecilia Zandalasini, the 30 year old with four seasons of WNBA experience, led all players with 14 points.
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“We wanted to break their rhythm because when they get rhythm, they are unstoppable,” Zandalasini said. “We tried the zone, we tried different matchups, and we did a great job on their post players. I think they wanted to go inside and get points in the paint. We played with our hearts. I think that was the key, actually.”
The attendance was more than 9,000, and many were waving the blue-and-white national team colors of Italy. As play commenced, local spectators began cheering for calls that were favorable for the Italians, as well.
“We’ve all been in these high-stress situations,” Stewart continued, “knowing the gym is cheering against us. Italy had a ton of fans here tonight. We embraced it. We want to be in these situations. A majority of our shots were good looks, we just need to get them on the rim and finish it.”
The U.S. concludes the group stage against Czechia on Monday night at Berlin Arena. TNT will broadcast the game at 2:30 p.m. ET. Italy and China play their ultimate group stage game at the same time at Max-Schmeling-Halle on the other side of Berlin.
“You have to have great respect for who you play,” Lawson continued, “and you have to be prepared to win. It’s supposed to be challenging, so we are supposed to have moments where we are not at our best. That is what it takes. This thing is not easy.”
