Alyssa Thomas and her US teammates yesterday were tested for the first time at the FIBA Women’s World Cup by a physical Serbia team, despite the 88-55 scoreline in their quarter-final.
After a slow start, the US used a dominant run spanning the half to take control of the game and reach the semi-finals, with Thomas scoring 13 points, taking down 14 rebounds and providing seven assists.
“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.”
Photo: AFP
Kelsey Plum scored 17 points and A’ja Wilson added 15 to lead the US (6-0), who in the semi-finals today face Canada, who beat Puerto Rico 79-60.
“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.”
The US ran through pool play with an average winning margin of 46.2 points per game and had not faced any kind of challenge.
Serbia (3-2) were not afraid though, going right at the US. They scored the first basket of the game — marking the first time the US had trailed in the tournament.
It was back-and-forth for the first 17 minutes, with the US failing to go on any major run.
Then, with 2 minutes, 59 seconds left in the half and the US 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 training staff.
Copper, who has been a sparkplug for the US in her first tournament, did not 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 US led 50-33 at the break.
The US extended their run to 20 straight points in the third quarter before Serbia ended more than 8 minutes of scorelessness with a three-pointer by Yvonne Anderson.
Anderson led Serbia with 14 points.
The victory was the 28th in a row in World Cup play for the US, who have not lost since the 2006 semi-finals against Russia.
In the other quarter-final games, China defeated France 85-71 to book a semi against hosts Australia, who beat Belgium 86-69.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but