{"id":819755,"date":"2026-03-11T23:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T23:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/819755\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T23:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T23:30:20","slug":"caitlin-clark-angel-reese-paige-bueckers-shine-in-team-usa-debut-in-world-cup-qualifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/819755\/","title":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers shine in Team USA debut in World Cup qualifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

While we don\u2019t know when the 2026 WNBA season will begin amid ongoing collective bargaining negotiations<\/a>, some of the game\u2019s top stars were in action on Wednesday in the opening game of the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament. Team USA defeated Senegal 110-46.<\/p>\n

Notably, Caitlin Clark played in her first game since July 15, 2025, scoring 17 points and dishing out a team-high 12 assists. Only Rhyne Howard scored more points than Clark with 21. Angel Reese (6 points, team-high 8 rebounds), Paige Bueckers (9 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds), Rae Burrell (5 points, 3 assists) and Kiki Iriafen (6 points, 4 rebounds) also made their Team USA debuts.<\/p>\n

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After an early end to her 2025 season due to injuries, Clark looked as good as she\u2019s said she feels, making 4-of-5 3-pointers and displaying some nice chemistry with Bueckers.<\/p>\n

Clark told reporters after the game<\/a> that overall she felt solid, but at times she felt like she was \u201csucking air.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I had my wind pretty well,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt like I was playing fast, and that was my goal. I know that\u2019s what I can bring to this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The WNBA season is scheduled to begin May 8, but that start date is in jeopardy as CBA negotiations continued past the March 10 deadline set by the league. Clark\u2019s Indiana Fever and Bueckers\u2019 Dallas Wings are scheduled to face off on May 9.<\/p>\n

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The qualifying tournament, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, will run through March 17, ahead of the World Cup in Berlin in September. Team USA, which has already qualified for the World Cup, plays its next qualifying game Thursday against Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While we don\u2019t know when the 2026 WNBA season will begin amid ongoing collective bargaining negotiations, some of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[51776,51777,236087,236081,51774,236086,217489,236085,236083,13088,49,978,659,236082,236084],"class_list":{"0":"post-819755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-angel-reese","9":"tag-caitlin-clark","10":"tag-dallas-wings","11":"tag-fiba-world-cup","12":"tag-indiana-fever","13":"tag-kiki-iriafen","14":"tag-paige-bueckers","15":"tag-rae-burrell","16":"tag-rhyne-howard","17":"tag-team-usa","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa","21":"tag-usa-basketball","22":"tag-wnba-season"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116213148804028673","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}