San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain • September 22-30, 2018

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The 2018 USA World Cup Team compiled a perfect 6-0 record en route to the FIBA World Cup gold medal and a qualifying berth into the 2020 Olympics. The gold medal was earned in record style, and marked the USA’s 10th gold in the 18 editions of the event and the first time the USA had ever earned three World Cup golds in a row.

2018 USA RESULTS (6-0) USA 87 Senegal 67 USA 100 China 88 USA 102 Latvia 76 USA 71 Nigeria 40 USA 93 Belgium 77 USA 73 Australia 56 2018 WORLD CUP FINAL STANDINGS 1. USA (6-0) 9. Greece (1-3) 2. Australia (5-1) 10. Japan (2-2) 3. Spain (5-2) 11. Senegal (1-3) 4. Belgium (3-3) 12. Turkey (1-3) 5. France (5-2) 13. Latvia (0-3) 6. China (4-3) 14. South Korea (0-3) 7. Canada (4-2) 15. Argentina (0-3) 8. Nigeria (3-4) 16. Puerto Rico (0-3)

In directing the team to gold, Dawn Staley became the USA’s first person to be a member of gold-medal winning World Cup teams as an athlete, assistant coach and head coach.

Sue Bird logged her fifth and likely final World Cup appearance, and as the winningest FIBA World Cup player ever, became the first athlete to win four World Cup gold medals.

Bird also capped her World Cup career as the all-time USA World Cup assists leader, surpassing Staley in the gold medal game to finish with 107 assists since the 2002 World Cup.

Opening against Senegal on Sept. 22, 19 points from Elena Delle Donne, and Nneka Ogwumike, who went 6-of-6 from the field to tie a 20-year-old USA World Cup record en route to 16 points, led the USA to a 87-67 victory.

Breanna Stewart scored 17 of her game-high 23 points in the third quarter to help the USA to a 100-88 victory over China.

Tina Charles scored 18 points and Diana Taurasi added 16 as the USA defeated Latvia 102-76. The 6-foot-9 center Brittney Griner, who sat out the first two games with an ankle injury, made her 2018 World Cup debut by scoring 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field in just 13:25.

The U.S. advanced to the Sept. 28 quarterfinals against Nigeria, which became the first African team to ever make it into the quarterfinals in the World Cup’s 65-year history. However, the team would go no further as the USA outscored Nigeria

44-17 in the second half to earn a 71-40 victory. Stewart scored 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting to help lead the Americans.

A quick start in the second half of the Sept. 28 semifinal, fueled by three consecutive 3-pointers from Taurasi, and a perfect, record-setting night at the foul line (19-19 FTs) by the U.S., gave the USA the edge it needed to defeat Belgium 93-77.

Taurasi led with 26 points, while Stewart tallied 20. Additionally, when Griner started the scoring off with a layup soon after the tip, she did more than give the USA a 2-0 lead; it put the USA over 10,000 all-time World Cup points.

Meeting rival Australia in the Sept. 29 gold medal game, Stewart and Taurasi ignited a 10-0 opening run and rolled on for the eventual 73-56 victory. Griner and the USA’s defense keyed the win by holding Australia’s Liz Cambage, who averaged

27.2 ppg. in her first five contests, to just seven points.

Bird entered the gold medal game one assist shy of tying Staley’s all-time USA World Cup record. She assisted Stewart’s opening 3, and 20 seconds later, passed to Taurasi for the record.

Stewart, who finished the game with 10 points and five rebounds, averaged 16.3 ppg. and 6.3 rpg. overall and was named tournament MVP. Taurasi joined her on the all-tournament team, along with Cambage, Belgium’s Emma Meesseman and Spain’s Astou Ndour.

Spain topped Belgium 67-60 for the bronze medal.

2018 USA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP TEAM ROSTER

NAME	POS	HGT	WGT	AGE	AFFILIATION/SCHOOL	HOMETOWN
Sue Bird	G	5-9	150	37	Seattle Storm/Connecticut	Syosset, NY
Tina Charles	C	6-4	192	29	New York Liberty/Connecticut	Jamaica, NY
Layshia Clarendon	G	5-9	140	27	Connecticut Sun/California	San Bernardino, CA
Elena Delle Donne	F/G	6-5	188	29	Washington Mystics/Delaware	Wilmington, DE
Brittney Griner	C	6-9	205	27	Phoenix Mercury/Baylor	Houston, TX
Jewell Loyd	G	5-11	150	24	Seattle Storm/Notre Dame	Lincolnwood, IL
Nneka Ogwumike	F	6-2	188	28	Los Angeles Sparks/Stanford	Cypress, TX
Kelsey Plum	G	5-8	145	24	Las Vegas Aces/Washington	Poway, CA
Breanna Stewart	F	6-4	170	24	Seattle Storm/Connecticut	North Syracuse, NY
Diana Taurasi	G	6-0	164	36	Phoenix Mercury/Connecticut	Chino, CA
Morgan Tuck	F	6-2	200	24	Connecticut Sun/Connecticut	Bolingbrook, IL
A’ja Wilson	F	6-5	197	22	Las Vegas Aces/South Carolina	Hopkins, SC
HEAD COACH: Dawn Staley, Univ. of South Carolina
ASSISTANT COACH: Dan Hughes, Seattle Storm
ASSISTANT COACH: Cheryl Reeve, Minnesota Lynx
ASSISTANT COACH: Jennifer Rizzotti, George Washington University
TEAM PHYSICIAN: Dave Weinstein, Colorado Springs, Colorado
ATHLETIC TRAINER: Ed Ryan, USA Basketball & Andrews Institute

 

2018 USA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP TEAM CUMULATIVE STATISTICS

NAME	G/S	MIN/AVG	FGM-FGA	PCT	3PM-3PA	PCT	FTM-FTA	PCT	REB/AVG	PTS/AVG	AST	TO	BLK	STL
Stewart	6/6	161/26.8	40- 69	.580	8- 17	.471	10- 14	.714	38/ 6.3	98/ 16.3	15	5	4	4
Griner	4/3	84/21.0	19- 38	.500	0- 0	.---	13- 16	.813	20/ 5.0	51/ 12.8	4	8	6	5
Taurasi	6/6	131/21.8	20- 48	.417	11- 27	.407	22- 24	.917	17/ 2.8	73/ 12.2	22	19	1	1
Charles	6/6	120/20.0	27- 54	.500	0- 1	.000	8- 8	1.000	44/ 7.3	62/ 10.3	11	8	2	3
Wilson	6/0	88/14.7	21- 40	.525	0- 0	.---	18- 26	.692	24/ 4.0	60/ 10.0	6	13	6	9
Delle Donne	5/0	71/14.2	17- 28	.607	3- 7	.429	2- 3	.667	18/ 3.6	39/ 7.8	5	1	4	2
Ogwumike	6/3	95/15.8	18- 37	.486	0- 2	.000	9- 11	.818	19/ 3.2	45/ 7.5	5	10	1	2
Loyd	6/0	130/21.7	11- 32	.344	5- 13	.385	7- 8	.875	24/ 4.0	34/ 5.7	19	5	1	7
Bird	5/5	100/20.0	7- 17	.412	6- 15	.400	0- 0	.---	13/ 2.6	20/ 4.0	24	6	0	3
Plum	6/0	81/13.5	4- 20	.200	2- 13	.154	6- 6	1.000	12/ 2.0	16/ 2.7	11	5	0	5
Tuck	6/0	68/11.3	6- 24	.250	2- 7	.286	1- 1	1.000	12/ 2.0	15/ 2.5	5	3	0	3
Clarendon	6/1	71/11.8	6- 15	.400	0- 1	.000	1- 1	1.000	12/ 2.0	13/ 2.2	15	4	0	6
USA	6	1200	196- 422	.464	37- 103	.359	97- 118	.822	284/ 47.3	526/ 87.7	142	88	25	50
OPP.	6	1200	159- 425	.374	39- 145	.269	47- 68	.691	214/ 35.7	404/ 67.3	101	98	18	42