Host Germany avoided embarrassment at the women\u2019s FIBA World Cup on Monday while Spain advanced to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
Germany faced the prospect of elimination in its final group game against Mali, but the host was never in danger in front of a sell-out crowd at the Berlin Arena, with Frieda Buhner (21 points) and Luisa Geiselsoder (17) contributing to a comfortable 83-58 win.<\/p>\n
Iyana Martin led Spain to a 79-59 win over Japan with 20 points and four rebounds, sending Spain (2-1) straight through to the quarterfinals as Group A winner because of its head-to-head record against Germany (2-1).<\/p>\n
Alima Demb\u00e9l\u00e9\u2019s two free throws at the start gave Mali (1-2) its only lead against Germany as the host made sure of progress from a group that had been wide open with all teams 1-1 before their final games.<\/p>\n
After the buzzer, the German players went over to a corner and danced with the crowd. They then did a lap around the court and high-fived fans as they went off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no celebration,\u201d Germany coach Olaf Lange said. \u201cThe turnaround to tomorrow is too fast. The players need to recover now. Things get going again first thing tomorrow morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Germany faces South Korea on Tuesday to decide which team progresses to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
Japan finished third in the group while Mali was eliminated despite its shock win over Spain on Saturday. Japan next plays Hungary on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
After running the United States close the night before, Italy struggled to find the same energy levels in a 51-71 defeat to China, which secured second place in Group D and a playoff against Puerto Rico on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s 7-foot-3 teenage sensation Zhang Ziyu scored eight points while Han Xu led the team with 19 points and 10 rebounds in front of a raucous crowd at the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin.<\/p>\n
Matilde Villa led Italy with 15 points and acknowledged that the game against the U.S. on Sunday took a toll.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent a lot of energy, mentally and physically, and I think we felt it,\u201d Villa told the Associated Press. \u201cBut yes, we didn\u2019t approach the game in the right way, and this has to be a lesson for us. Now we will take a day off, recover, and then we will think about the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Italy (1-2), back in the tournament after a 32-year wait, next faces Australia on Wednesday for a place in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
The U.S. (3-0) bounced back from its scare the night before with a 105-64 rout of the Czech Republic, which was already eliminated after two losses, now three.<\/p>\n
Breanna Stewart had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists to help the U.S. win its 33rd in a row in the tournament.<\/p>\n
(With inputs from The Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Published on Sep 08, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Host Germany avoided embarrassment at the women\u2019s FIBA World Cup on Monday while Spain advanced to the quarterfinals.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[30605,30604,30600,30601,30603,30602,17,30274],"class_list":["post-82369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-basketball-womens-world-cup","tag-fiba-basketball-world-cup","tag-fiba-womens-world-cup","tag-fiba-womens-world-cup-2026","tag-fiba-womens-world-cup-2026-latest","tag-fiba-world-cup-2026","tag-spain","tag-womens-basketball-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}