BERLIN (AP) \u2014 The United States faced its stiffest challenge in nearly two decades in the women’s FIBA World Cup and escaped with a win over Italy thanks to a few timely baskets late and a key defensive play by Chelsea Gray.<\/p>\n
Jackie Young scored 10 points to lead the struggling offense in the 55-52<\/a> win on Sunday. It was the fewest points the Americans had scored in a World Cup win since they beat Australia 42-38 in 1967.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be able to win different ways in this tournament because every team stylistically plays a little bit different,\u201d U.S. coach Kara Lawson said. \u201cYou do have to be able to win when you don\u2019t have your fastball. We didn\u2019t have a fastball tonight, but we figured it out late and we\u2019ll grow from it.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. (2-0) 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.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, Italy really kind of mucked up the game for us a little bit,\u201d Breanna Stewart said. \u201cIt made it difficult for us to score. They are a tough team. Tons of respect to what they\u2019ve done. And, just proud of the resiliency of this group.\u201d<\/p>\n The world has been closing the gap on the U.S. The Americans pulled off their eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal in 2024, edging France by one point<\/a> in the title game.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen that through the tournament that every game feels like a dogfight,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard. On any given night, if you\u2019re not prepared to play, you\u2019ll lose. That\u2019s awesome for our sport.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought that late charge Chelsea took was a big momentum changing play,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cIt was an incredible winning play by Gray there.\u201d<\/p>\n 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\u2019t convert.<\/p>\n Italy (1-1) had one last chance to tie it, but Cecilia Zandalasini\u2019s 3-pointer was off at the buzzer.<\/p>\n Italy\u2019s 2-3 zone defense caused the U.S. fits. The Americans couldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we missed some shots. We missed some layups, some shots that we have made in the past,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Italy, which lost to the Americans by 34 in a tournament qualifier in March, wouldn\u2019t go away and was up 50-48 in the fourth quarter before the Americans\u2019 final push.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to apologize for how I reacted in the end,\u201d Zandalasini said. \u201cIt was a lot of emotions today, but I should have kept them inside of me a little better.\u201d<\/p>\n