USA women def. Puerto Rico at FIBA World Cup qualifiers

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. women’s national team secured its second win of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers on Thursday, beating host team Puerto Rico 91-48, but it didn’t come without rough patches.

“I thought the game was a little clunky,” said Caitlin Clark, who scored eight points one day after notching a double-double in her first game in eight months. “We probably didn’t play our best.”

Team USA’s performance on Thursday was far from what it put together against Senegal the night before. On Wednesday, the United States’ offense was scorching. The chemistry it displayed made it seem like the players had been playing as a group for a while, not in their first game against an opponent.

It was all gone against Puerto Rico. The U.S. was stagnant, lost some of its pace and committed 14 turnovers.

Clark said Puerto Rico’s zone caused problems, slowing Team USA and limiting its ability to play in transition. But Clark also said that most of the team’s mistakes were “self-inflicted.”

“I thought we missed some of our defensive coverages, especially with how much we were, too, it really limits us in transition when we want to play fast,” Clark said. “It’s hard to push off of a made free throw.”

“Anytime there are breakdowns, it’s usually a combination,” head coach Kara Lawson said when asked if she agreed with Clark’s assessment or if Puerto Rico forced the United States out of its groove.

“We know we are not going to pitch a shutout,” Lawson continued. “So, it’s a combination — it’s our reaction and our understanding of coverages and then being really precise within those coverages. … When your opponent increases in difficulty, they have more skill and power to exploit the things we are not doing well.”

Although it boasts some of the best basketball players in the world, Team USA is still in the process of building chemistry and forming a team identity.

Its game against Senegal was the first game the group has played against another national team, and not just each other in practice. That’s why the United States wanted to play in the qualifying tournament despite having already secured a spot in the World Cup.

“This tournament is our only chance before the World Cup to have games,” Lawson said. “We can have training, but not actual games — actual FIBA games in an environment … and it’s not just the reps and the games. It’s also having the opportunity to be around our veteran players and be around our staff. There’s on-court chemistry, and there’s also off-court chemistry.”

Lawson said she would continue to tinker with her starting group and rotation patterns throughout the tournament. She started an almost entirely new group against Puerto Rico, putting Paige Bueckers, Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray, Monique Billings and Kiki Iriafen on the court first.

On Wednesday, Lawson credited Plum, Billings and Iriafen for sparking the team off the bench.

Bueckers led all scorers Thursday with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and Plum added 12 points. She scored eight of them in the first five minutes of the game. Iriafen scored 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting and grabbed five rebounds.

Angel Reese and Clark were two of the first players off the bench. Reese notched a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

“It’s different for them, rotationally,” Lawson said. “All of these players start with their respective WNBA teams. If they are not the No. 1 option, they are the No. 2 option on their team. So, you’re asking them to play a different role … they’re all doing it willingly and trying their best.”

Lawson continued: “I thought we had good spots, but I also thought we had some rough spots. And that’s good. It’s good to have rough spots. Sometimes you are able to figure some things out, and we’re still figuring things out.”

Team USA has three more games in San Juan against Italy, New Zealand and Spain. The World Cup begins Sept. 4 in Germany.