Sports activities
The USA has reached not less than the twelfth consecutive World Cup semifinal.
Alyssa Thomas of the US drives previous Jovana Nogic of Serbia to attain a basket throughout their quarterfinal match on the Girls’s Basketball World Cup in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (AP Photograph/Mark Baker) The Related Press
SYDNEY (AP) — Alyssa Thomas and her United States teammates have been examined by a bodily Serbia staff for the primary time on the World Cup.
After a sluggish begin, the Individuals used a dominant run from half huge to take management of the match and as soon as once more attain the semifinals.
Thomas had 13 factors, 14 rebounds and 7 assists because the USA beat Serbia 88-55 within the quarterfinals of the Girls’s World Cup on Thursday.
“I feel you anticipate every staff’s greatest punch within the first quarter,” Thomas stated. “We simply needed to settle into the sport and as soon as we settled in, then we have been in a position to actually separate.”
Kelsey Plum scored 17 factors and Aja Wilson had 15 to steer the Individuals (6-0), who will play Canada within the semifinals on Friday.
“They performed tremendous bodily, extra bodily than we have seen the entire event,” Plum stated. “Credit score to them. I felt their strain damage us slightly bit, however we have been in a position to type of get underneath management.
The Individuals cruised by way of pool play, profitable by 46.2 factors per recreation and never dealing with any kind of problem. Serbia (3-2) wasn’t intimidated, nevertheless, because the Serbians scored the primary basket of the sport with the U.S. going proper — marking the primary time the Individuals had trailed within the event.
It was forwards and backwards for the primary 17 minutes, with the US failing to go on any large runs. Then, with 2:59 left within the half and America up by 5, Kahleh Copper drove to the basket and was fouled. She landed onerous on her hips and needed to be helped off the court docket by the American coaching workers. Copper, the sparkplug for the US in his first event, didn’t return.
“It is too early to inform,” Reeve stated of the extent of Copper’s harm. “We’re performing some imaging on her and we’ll have data later.”
Plum changed Copper and hit two free throws, beginning a 12-0 run that gave the Individuals a 50-33 lead on the finish of the half. Thomas had 13 factors, six rebounds, 4 assists and two steals within the first 20 minutes.
The U.S. prolonged its run to twenty straight factors within the third quarter, earlier than Serbia lastly ended the almost 8 1/2-minute drought with a 3-pointer by Yvonne Anderson. This diminished the deficit to 22 factors. Serbia did not come that shut after that.
Anderson led Serbia with 14 factors.
Betnizah went down onerous early within the fourth quarter on a Laney put-back. She left the sport and sat on the bench for the remainder of the sport.
“She took a tough fall,” Reeve stated. “She was within the locker room afterwards and I feel it was slightly bit extra in her case that it took the air out of her.”
It was the twenty eighth consecutive victory in World Cup play for the Individuals, who went undefeated towards Russia within the 2006 semifinals. The Soviet Union held the World Cup document with 56 consecutive victories from 1959-86.
Once more going undefeated in pool play, the U.S. reached the semifinals for not less than the twelfth consecutive event since 1975. That 12 months accomplished a streak through which the Individuals misplaced 14 video games in 4 tournaments. Since then they’ve misplaced solely 5 video games.
Picasso it was not
The U.S. dominated within the paint even with out Brittany Griner, outscoring opponents by a mean of 60.8-24.4 in pool play. Serbia led 20-16 on the half and outscored the Individuals 28-26 within the recreation, placing two or three consecutive gamers inside to cease it within the center.
“It is a kind of stuff you get to stay with,” Wilson stated. “Hopefully these subsequent two video games we will get again to proudly owning the paint. Serbia did an important job of locking it down.
Triple-double watch
Thomas, who has triple-doubles in every of her final two video games within the WNBA Finals, fell wanting incomes her first World Cup look since Erika Dobrovicova in 1994 for the Slovak Republic towards Spain. Previous to 1994, assists and rebounds weren’t recorded. Thomas had 14 factors, 9 assists and 7 rebounds within the opener towards Belgium.
TIP-INS
Jewel Lloyd is again within the US beginning the sport after being rested in response to the staff. He had eight factors.
Scoreboard
In different quarterfinal video games on Wednesday, the matchups have been: Canada-Puerto Rico; China-France, and Australia-Belgium.
Subsequent up
Serbia: Event over.
USA: The semi-finals might be performed on Friday.
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