Rio de Janeiro, Brazil • October 13 - 26, 1957

The 1957 USA World Championship team was a well balanced team. Eight members of the USA squad were named as 1957 AAU All-Americans, players like Rita Alexander, Barbara Ann Sipes and Katherine Washington offered the U.S. group international experience as well. USA head coach John Head, who had directed the 1953 USA team to the gold medal, once again relied on the outstanding play of Washington, who had helped lead the '53 team to the World crown.

Journeying to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 1957 World Championship and seeking to successfully defend the title the 1953 USA World Championship team had won, the U.S. was considered a co-favorite with the Soviet Union. The Soviet women had won four consecutive European titles and were making their first appearance in the FIBA World Championship.

The U.S. successfully advanced from the preliminary round to the final round but not without some concern. Drubbing Peru 75-37 in its opening preliminary round game on Oct. 13, with Sipes contributing a game-high 19 points, the U.S. next cruised past Argentina 64-39 as Nera White led the way with 22 points on Oct. 14. However, in its final preliminary contest the United States received 14 points from Joan Crawford, 13 from Washington and 12 from White, but was upset by Czechoslovakia 53-50 on Oct. 15.

Opening the final round of competition against Hungary, the U.S. trailed 29-27 at half, but rallied in the second half to take a hard-fought 51-46 decision behind a 15-point effort from Sipes on Oct. 18. The following day, White poured in 28 points as the North American bested host Brazil 67-44. White led four U.S. players in double digits with 18 points as the U.S. squad jumped all over Chile early, took a 40-17 lead into the locker room at halftime and sailed to a 76-47 victory on Oct. 22.

In a rematch with Czechoslovakia, the U.S. avenged its earlier loss by recording an impressive 61-55 win sa four players scored at least 10 points each, led by Crawford's 15 points on Oct. 23. Sipes netted 9-of-10 from the line and finished with a game-high 27 points as the USA's defense limited Paraguay to just eight first-half points and went on to record a 60-40 win on Oct. 25 to set the stage for its final match against unbeaten Soviet Union.

The USA-USSR match-up marked the first time the two women's teams had faced each other in a major competition, thus beginning a famed rivalry that would last decades. The USA women trailed by three, 27-24, at half, but regrouped and with the aid of 18 points from Sipesand recorded a 51-48 come-from-behind victory to claim the 1957 World Championship title on Oct. 26.

1957 USA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM ROSTER

1957 USA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM CUMULATIVE STATISTICS

NOTE: Complete 1957 USA Women's World Championship cumulative statistics are not available