Team USA Opens World Cup With 94-61 Win as WNBA Amplifies Angel Reese Remarks

Q: Despite claims of a narrowing global gap, does this dominant opening win prove American supremacy is actually growing?

No. The 94-61 win over China was a strong statement, but one opener is not enough to prove the U.S. gap is widening across women’s basketball. What it did show is that Team USA remains the clear tournament favorite and may be unusually deep. The Americans had every player score, got 14 points each from Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Rhyne Howard, and controlled the game with defense, pace and balance. Clark’s 14-point, 11-assist World Cup debut was historically strong, and the U.S. held China to 32 percent shooting while forcing 16 turnovers. That is the profile of a team with overwhelming talent and lineup flexibility. But the broader evidence still supports the idea that the global field has improved. This World Cup includes more than 50 current WNBA players, and countries such as China, Belgium, France, Australia and others have become deeper and more experienced. China itself brought major size with Zhang Ziyu and Han Xu, and stronger opponents are likely to test the U.S. more severely in the knockout rounds than in group play. The better reading is that American supremacy has not disappeared, but it is being maintained through elite depth, player development and roster construction rather than by default. This result reinforces U.S. dominance. It does not, by itself, settle the larger argument that the rest of the world is no longer closing in. To prove the gap is growing, the Americans would need to sustain this level against top contenders deep into the tournament.

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Sports · Sep 5

94-61 was the margin as Team USA routed China in its 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup opener, a rematch of the 2022 gold medal game.
Angel Reese said the Americans kept their intensity high regardless of substitutions and that younger players are learning from veterans; the WNBA reposted her interview clip with a celebratory caption.
Caitlin Clark paced the balanced attack with 14 points and 11 assists, while Paige Bueckers and Rhyne Howard also scored 14 and every U.S. player got on the board.
Reese finished with five points and a team-high nine rebounds as the Americans moved on to Group D games against Italy on Sunday and the Czech Republic on Monday.