BERLIN (AP) \u2014 Italy came close to pulling off one of the biggest upsets in women\u2019s FIBA World Cup history.<\/p>\n
The Italians, making their first appearance in the tournament since 1994, gave the U.S. all it could handle before falling 55-52<\/a> on Sunday. It was the fewest points the Americans<\/a> had scored in a World Cup win since they beat Australia 42-38 in 1967.<\/p>\n Italy (1-1) almost handed the Americans their first loss in the tournament since 2006 and first preliminary round defeat since 1983. Instead they came up just a few plays short.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel a little bitter of course but they were the better team and they made better plays at the end so they deserve to win,\u201d Italy point guard Mariella Santucci said. \u201cI feel like the way we play we learn so much about ourselves that we can compete against everybody. To play like that with the USA is special, but it makes us think that we are a special team and we can do something special.\u201d<\/p>\n Italy led 50-48 in the fourth quarter and the crowd of 9,232 that was made up of predominantly fans of the European nation was whipped into a frenzy. Then the U.S. went on a 7-0 run to take a 55-50 advantage. <\/p>\n The Italians got within three and star forward Cecilia Zandalasini had a chance to tie it at the buzzer, but her 3-pointer was off. She apologized after the game for being emotional toward an official for not calling a foul on the final possession.<\/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 The Italians don\u2019t have much time to analyze what went wrong in the final few minutes against the U.S. with a key game against China on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have another very important game tomorrow. So now we\u2019ve shown what we\u2019re capable of,\u201d Zandalasini said. \u201cBut we want to keep going and not just stop here and just lose our head on this game. It\u2019s still a very, very long tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n Zandalasini scored 14 points to lead Italy, which was one of the rare teams to actually have a .500 or better record against the U.S., going 1-1 before Sunday. <\/p>\n \u201cI think we showed that tonight we deserved a spot in this tournament on this big stage,\u201d Zandalasini said. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of my team. and I think, we have a great coach that believes in us and we really play our hearts out.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n