BERLIN — The United States faced its stiffest challenge at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in nearly two decades but escaped with a win over Italy, thanks to a few timely baskets late and a key defensive play by Chelsea Gray.

Jackie Young scored 10 points to lead the struggling offense in the 55-52 win Sunday as group play continued at the quadrennial tournament. It was the fewest points the Americans had scored in a World Cup win since they beat Australia 42-38 in 1967.

“You have to be able to win different ways in this tournament, because every team stylistically plays a little bit different,” said Kara Lawson, whose first World Cup game as U.S. head coach was a 94-61 win against China on Friday.

“You do have to be able to win when you don’t have your fastball. We didn’t have a fastball tonight, but we figured it out late, and we’ll grow from it.”

The U.S. has won 32 straight World Cup games dating to a loss to Russia in the 2006 semifinals. Only one team had come within single digits of the Americans during this run before Sunday, when Australia lost by eight points in 2010.

“Obviously, Italy really kind of mucked up the game for us a little bit,” said veteran U.S. forward Breanna Stewart, who had a game-high 11 rebounds but was held to five points on 1-for-9 shooting while playing 27 minutes. “It made it difficult for us to score. They are a tough team. Tons of respect to what they’ve done. And just proud of the resiliency of this group.”

The world has been closing the gap on the U.S. The Americans pulled off their eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal in 2024, edging host France by one point in the title game.

“We’ve seen that through the tournament that every game feels like a dogfight,” Lawson said. “It’s really hard. On any given night, if you’re not prepared to play, you’ll lose. That’s awesome for our sport.”

The U.S., which has a roster stocked with WNBA All-Stars but with several World Cup newcomers among them, trailed 50-48 with 4:29 left before going on a 7-0 run. Stewart, who missed her first eight shots, scored her first basket of the game to put the Americans up 51-50. Young then hit a layup after Gray drew that offensive foul with 3:03 left.

“I thought that late charge Chelsea took was a big, momentum-changing play,” Lawson said. “It was an incredible winning play by Gray there.”

Gray’s jumper with 1:07 left made it a five-point game. Matilde Villa scored to get Italy back within three with less than a minute to go. The U.S. had a couple of chances to make it a two-possession lead but couldn’t convert.

Italy had one last chance to tie it, but Cecilia Zandalasini’s 3-pointer was off at the buzzer. The Italians were trying to start 2-0, having opened Friday with a 63-54 win against the Czech Republic.

Italy’s 2-3 zone defense caused the U.S. fits. The Americans couldn’t get into any rhythm and shot 29% from the field, including 1-for-12 from 3-point range. They missed a ton of layups, too.

“I think we missed some shots. We missed some layups, some shots that we have made in the past,” Gray said.

The Americans were up early, leading 23-8 in what looked to be another blowout victory. Italy then switched to a zone defense and went on a 16-7 spurt to close the half down 30-24.

The Italians kept it going in the third quarter with an 11-2 run to go up 35-32. The Americans led 42-39 heading into the fourth.

Italy, which lost to the Americans by 34 in a tournament qualifier in March, wouldn’t go away and was up 50-48 in the final quarter before the Americans’ final push.

Angel Reese (eight points) and Paige Bueckers (seven) followed Stewart in scoring for the U.S, while fellow World Cup newcomer Caitlin Clark was 0-for-6 from the field, with half of those attempts from 3-point range, and 1-for-2 at the foul line. Clark had four rebounds, one assist and one steal while committing two turnovers in 19 minutes off the bench.

Bradley Central High School graduate Rhyne Howard played nine minutes and had two each in points, rebounds and assists with one steal but also a turnover.

Zandalasini scored 14 points to lead Italy, which is making its first World Cup appearance since 1994. She apologized after the game for emotion she showed at the buzzer toward an official at the lack of a foul call.

“I would like to apologize for how I reacted in the end,” Zandalasini said. “It was a lot of emotions today, but I should have kept them inside of me a little better.”

In other games Sunday, China edged the Czech Republic in overtime, Australia topped Turkey and Belgium beat Puerto Rico.

The U.S. is back on the court Monday to close group play against the Czech Republic. The Americans are the only 2-0 team in Group D and can avoid a qualifying game and advance straight to the quarterfinals by finishing 3-0.