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. 

Jackie Young: A+

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. 

Paige Bueckers: A

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%). 

Breanna Stewart: A-

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. 

Aside from missing some easy looks against the Italians, Stewart has been awesome. Her 19-point, seven-rebound, six-assist effort against Czechia was the best single performance by any American in the group stage and she’s been the team’s best rebounder (8.3 per game), which is especially important without A’ja Wilson. 

There are few more reliable international players than Stewart, who is also tied for second on the team in scoring (10.3 points) and tied for third in assists (three). 

Angel Reese: A-

The “Young and Turnt’ group has been excellent for the Americans in Berlin, and Reese has been a consistent part of their success. She had eight big points against Italy — second to Young — on a night when Team USA really struggled to put the ball in the basket, and has delivered her usual effort on the offensive glass and made a big impact defensively with her versatility. 

Reese is fourth on the team in scoring at 8.7 points per game, which no one would have predicted coming into the tournament, and is quietly shooting 57.1% from the field, which is second only to Bueckers. She’s also grabbed a team-high nine offensive rebounds and her four steals are tied for second. 

Caitlin Clark: B+

Clark was Team USA’s best player against China, when she put up 14 points and 11 assists for a historic double-double in her World Cup debut. Against Italy, she was one of the worst, as she failed to make a field goal for the first time in her college, WNBA and Team USA career. Like most, she bounced back versus Czechia with a solid showing: nine points and a team-high seven assists. 

Clark can’t get full marks given her performance against Italy and her 25% mark from 3-point range, but she’s leading Team USA in assists (6.3 per game) by a wide margin and is third among all players in that category. She’s also fifth on the team in scoring and has only turned the ball over four times. Plus, the Americans are +58 in her 66 minutes — by far the best mark of any player. 

Caitlin Clark delivers historic double-double off bench as Team USA dominates China in World Cup opener

Jack Maloney

Caitlin Clark delivers historic double-double off bench as Team USA dominates China in World Cup opener


Rhyne Howard: C+

Howard hit four 3-pointers in the opener against China, and her 14 points were tied for a team high. Since then, she’s made one 3 and scored five points on 2 of 7 shooting. While she did at least dish out four assists and swipe three steals in the blowout win over Czechia, her scoring and shooting drop-off was surprising. 

In the WNBA this season, Howard is shooting a career-high 36.7% from 3-point range and leads the league with 128 made 3s. Team USA was counting on her to be a big-time spot-up threat on this team, and will need more of what they saw against China in the knockout rounds. 

Napheesa Collier: C-

Following the disappointing showing against Italy, Collier set the tone against Czechia by scoring or assisting on Team USA’s first three made field goals. She finished with 12 points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal in by far her best outing of the group stage. 

Collier, who only returned from offseason surgery on both ankles in late July, is still working her way back to her pre-injury form and really struggled against both China and Italy. For the tournament, she’s averaging 7.3 points and 4.3 rebounds on just 39.1% shooting and is 1 of 6 from 3-point range. 

Notably, and perhaps worryingly for the Americans, they were just +11 in Collier’s 50 minutes. That was the worst mark of any starter and the second-worst mark on the team in the group stage. 

Aliyah Boston: C-

There were many, myself included, who thought Boston, the lone true center on the team, might start after Wilson’s departure. Instead, Kara Lawson decided to go small with Kahleah Copper as the fifth starter. 

Boston has been one of the first subs off the bench, however, and is averaging the seventh-most minutes on the team. She hasn’t done a lot with them. Like most of the Americans, Boston couldn’t buy a bucket against Italy, and is averaging just 5.3 points and 2.3 rebounds for the tournament. One of the few positives for Boston is that she has knocked down 2 of 3 3-point attempts. 

Chelsea Gray: D+

Despite a poor showing at the 2024 Olympics, when she averaged 1.3 points and 5.2 assists on 16.7% shooting, there was little doubt that Gray would be named the starting point guard due to her extensive international experience. Unfortunately, she has once again struggled to produce. 

In the group stage, Gray scored 11 points on 4 of 13 (30.7%) shooting, dished out just three total assists and somehow failed to grab a single rebound in 39 minutes. Her 3.7 points per game are the lowest mark on the team, and if she hadn’t come up with two of the biggest plays of the game down the stretch against Italy, her grade would be even lower. 

But to her credit, Gray did draw a charge on Cecilia Zandalasini with just over three minutes to play, and hit a clutch jumper with 1:07 left that pushed Team USA’s lead to five. The Americans need more of that from Gray in the knockout stage. 

Kahleah Copper: D

Heading into the tournament, no one expected Copper to get the fifth and final starting spot, but in hindsight it probably should have been obvious given Team USA’s preference for experience. She’ll likely remain in the starting lineup for the quarterfinals, but you could not fault Lawson if she looks elsewhere. 

Copper barely had more points than field goal attempts in the group stage, and her +13 in 56 minutes was the second-worst of any starter. In three games, she scored 16 points on 3 of 14 from the field overall, including 2 of 8 from 3-point range. She also managed just one assist and no steals. 

A disappointing showing thus far from someone with her international experience. 

Sonia Citron: Incomplete

Citron was a late addition to Team USA as a replacement for Kelsey Plum, and it’s no surprise that she played the fewest minutes in the group stage. She had a nice showing against Czechia with 10 points, seven rebounds and two assists, but that was largely in garbage time. 

It’s unlikely we’ll see a ton of her in the knockout rounds. 

Kiki Iriafen: Incomplete

Like Citron, her Washington Mystics teammate, Iriafen was a late replacement for A’ja Wilson, and we’re also going to give her an incomplete. Iriafen did not get off the bench against Italy, which was the only time in any of the three games that someone received a DNP. 

Even against Czechia, she didn’t get off the bench until the middle of the third quarter. She did make use of her minutes on Monday, however, putting up seven points and 11 rebounds.Â