A Canadian women’s team had finished every tournament on the podium since the event debuted as an Olympic sport in 1998. But, Canada concluded round robin play with a 4-5 record and failed to advance in PyeongChang.
The U.S. goes for its fourth consecutive title at the FIBA World Cup in Sydney — and eighth global gold in a row overall when including the Olympics.
A’ja Wilson, a two-time WNBA MVP, and Breanna Stewart, the Tokyo Olympic MVP, headline a U.S. roster that, for the first time since 2000, includes neither Sue Bird (retired) nor Diana Taurasi (injured).
The new-look team includes nobody over the age of 30 for the first time since 1994, before the U.S. began its dynasty at the 1996 Atlanta Games. The Americans have won 52 consecutive games between worlds and the Olympics dating to the 2006 Worlds bronze-medal game.
The field also includes host Australia, the U.S.’ former primary rival, and Olympic silver medalist Japan.
Nigeria, which played the U.S. the closest of any foe in Tokyo (losing by nine points), isn’t present after its federation withdrew the team over governance issues. Spain, ranked second in the world, failed to qualify.
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Follow @nbcolympictalk2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup Schedule, Results
| Date | Time (ET) | Game | Round |
| Wed., Sept. 21 | 8:30 p.m. | Puerto Rico 82, Bosnia and Herzegovina 58 | Group A |
| 9:30 p.m. | USA 87, Belgium 72 | Group A | |
| 11 p.m. | Canada 67, Serbia 60 | Group B | |
| Thurs., Sept. 22 | 12 a.m. | Japan 89, Mali 56 | Group B |
| 3:30 a.m. | China 107, South Korea 44 | Group A | |
| 6:30 a.m. | France 70, Australia 57 | Group B | |
| 8:30 p.m. | USA 106, Puerto Rico 42 | Group A | |
| 10 p.m. | Serbia 69, Japan 64 | Group B | |
| 11 p.m. | Belgium 84, South Korea 61 | Group A | |
| Fri., Sept. 23 | 12:30 a.m. | China 98, Bosnia and Herzegovina 51 | Group A |
| 4 a.m. | Canada 59, France 45 | Group B | |
| 6:30 a.m. | Australia 118, Mali 58 | Group B | |
| Sat., Sept. 24 | 12:30 a.m. | USA 77, China 63 | Group A |
| 4 a.m. | South Korea 99, Bosnia and Herzegovina 66 | Group A | |
| 6:30 a.m. | Belgium 68, Puerto Rico 65 | Group A | |
| Sun., Sept. 25 | 12:30 a.m. | France 74, Mali 59 | Group B |
| 4 a.m. | Australia 69, Serbia 54 | Group B | |
| 6:30 a.m. | Canada 70, Japan 56 | Group B | |
| 9:30 p.m. | Belgium 85, Bosnia and Herzegovina 55 | Group A | |
| 11:30 p.m. | Serbia 81, Mali 68 | Group B | |
| Mon., Sept. 26 | 12 a.m. | USA 145, South Korea 69 | Group A |
| 2 a.m. | France 67, Japan 53 | Group B | |
| 3:30 a.m. | China 95, Puerto Rico 60 | Group A | |
| 6:30 a.m. | Australia 75, Canada 72 | Group B | |
| 9:30 p.m. | Puerto Rico 92, South Korea 73 | Group A | |
| 11:30 p.m. | China 81, Belgium 55 | Group A | |
| Tues., Sept. 27 | 12 a.m. | USA 121, Bosnia and Herzegovina 59 | Group A |
| 2 a.m. | Canada 88, Mali 65 | Group B | |
| 3:30 a.m. | Serbia 68, France 62 | Group B | |
| 6:30 a.m. | Australia 71, Japan 54 | Group B | |
| Wed., Sept. 28 | 10 p.m. | USA vs. Serbia | Quarterfinals |
| Thurs., Sept. 29 | 12:30 a.m. | Canada vs. Puerto Rico | Quarterfinals |
| 4 a.m. | China vs. France | Quarterfinals | |
| 6:30 a.m. | Australia vs. Belgium | Quarterfinals | |
| Fri., Sept. 30 | 3 a.m. | USA vs. Canada | Semifinals |
| 5:30 a.m. | Australia vs. China | Semifinals | |
| 11 p.m. | Third-Place Game | ||
| Sat., Oct. 1 | 2 a.m. | Final |
SYDNEY — Alyssa Thomas and her United States teammates were tested for the first time in the World Cup by a physical Serbia team.
After a slow start, the Americans used a dominant run spanning the half to take control of the game and reach the semifinals again.
Thomas had 13 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists to help the U.S. beat Serbia 88-55 in the quarterfinals of the women’s World Cup on Thursday.
“I think you expect every team’s best punch in the first quarter,” Thomas said. “We just had to settle into the game and once we settled in, then we were really able to break away.”
Kelsey Plum scored 17 points and A’ja Wilson added 15 to lead the Americans (6-0) into the semifinals.
“They played super physical, more physical than we’ve seen the entire tournament,” Plum said. “Credit to them. I felt that early-on their pressure bothered us a little bit, but we were able to kind of get under control.”
MORE: FIBA World Cup Schedule, Results
The Americans had run through pool play, winning by 46.2 points per game and hadn’t faced any kind of challenge. Serbia (3-2) wasn’t afraid though, going right at the U.S. The Serbians scored the first basket of the game — marking the first time the Americans trailed in the tournament.
It was back-and-forth for the first 17 minutes, with the U.S. failing to go on any major run. Then, with 2:59 left in the half and the U.S. up by five, Kahleah Copper drove to the basket and was fouled. She landed hard on her hip and had to be helped off the court by the U.S. training staff. Copper, who has been a sparkplug for the U.S. in her first tournament, didn’t return.
“It’s too early to tell,” Reeve said of the extent of Copper’s injury. “We’re getting her some imaging and we’ll have information later.”
Plum replaced Cooper and hit the two free throws, starting a 12-0 run to close the half as the Americans led 50-33 at the break. Thomas had 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals in the opening 20 minutes.
The U.S. extended its run to 20 straight points in the third quarter before Serbia finally ended a nearly 8 1/2 minutes drought with a 3-pointer by Yvonne Anderson. That cut the deficit to 22 points. Serbia didn’t get much closer after that.
Anderson led Serbia with 14 points.
Betnijah Laney went down hard early in the fourth quarter on a put-back. She left the game and sat on the bench for the rest of the game.
“She took a hard fall,” Reeve said. “She was in the locker room afterwards and I think in her case it was a little more of it took the wind out of her.”
The victory was the 28th in a row in World Cup play for the Americans, who haven’t lost since the 2006 semifinals against Russia. The Soviet Union holds the World Cup record with 56 straight wins from 1959-86.
After going unbeaten in pool play again, the U.S. reached at least the semifinals for the 12th consecutive tournament, dating to 1975. That year completed a cycle in which the Americans lost 14 games combined in four tournaments. They’ve only lost five games since.
PICASSO IT WAS NOT
The U.S. had dominated the paint even without Brittney Griner, outscoring its opponents by an average of 60.8-24.4 in pool play. Serbia held a 20-16 advantage at the half and ended up outscoring the Americans 28-26 in the game by constantly having two or three players inside to clog up the middle.
“It’s one of those things you got to live with,” Wilson said. “Hopefully these next couple of games we can get back to owning the paint. Serbia did a great job of locking it down.
TRIPLE-DOUBLE WATCH
Thomas, who had a triple-double in each of the last two games in the WNBA Finals, fell just short again of getting the first one at the World Cup since Erika Dobrovicova in 1994 for the Slovak Republic against Spain. Assists and rebounds weren’t kept before 1994. Thomas had 14 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in the opener against Belgium.
TIP-INS
Jewell Loyd returned to the U.S. starting lineup a game after resting according to the team. She had eight points.
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