Today's Women's Basketball World Cup 1/4 final officially started, from morning to night will be played in all 4 games. The first match was the United States, who came first in Group A, against Serbia, who were third in Group B. The world ranking of the two teams is the United States team high in the world, Serbia is only eighth, it is reasonable to say, this should be a game without any suspense, the United States team should be one-sided victory over the opponent, easy to qualify.
But the whole game process is not as smooth as everyone thinks, the United States team won not easily, if not in the second quarter to show the strongest form, it is likely to break the biggest cold of this World Cup!
As soon as the first quarter of the game began, Serbia took the lead and caught the United States off guard with its excellent shooting touch, once establishing a five-point lead. The U.S. team turned back to chase the points, substitute Atkins hit two consecutive three-point shots, starting center Wilson also played under the basket, the U.S. team successfully achieved a counterattack at the end of the first quarter, but only 25-23 lead by two points. In the first quarter of the game, the first five members of the U.S. team all scored points, and Serbia substitute Dzudjevic became a surprise soldier, scoring 6 points in a single quarter.
In the second quarter, both sides shot less from the field, but the U.S. team improved its defensive intensity, with Wilson blocks on the inside and Atkins steals on the outside, allowing Serbia to score only four points in the first five minutes of the second quarter.
But Nokich scored a very good 3+1 at 4 minutes and 55 seconds, which not only narrowed the point difference, but also directly knocked Stewart off the field and boosted the morale of the team. In the second half of the game, the two sides continued to fall into a tug-of-war, and the number of fouls and mistakes of the American team also increased, and the game was a bit superior, and Serbia once narrowed the point difference to 5 points.
At this time, the unfortunate thing happened, the United States women's basketball bench general Cooper knocked down Anderson in a fast attack counterattack, resulting in himself falling to the ground for a long time could not get up, and finally was replaced off the court, and even could not walk normally, and could only be limped out of the field by the team doctor.
The commentary of this game also said bluntly: Cooper's World Cup should end here, and the next games cannot be played. It should be known that Cooper is an important substitute for the American team, and her injury will also disrupt the deployment of the team's later game plan and personnel rotation.
Cooper's serious injury also spurred the U.S. women's basketball team, who left Serbia without a single point in the second quarter and scored 12 straight points to end the first half of the game with a 12-0 lead over their opponents by 17 points at 50-33.
Throughout the first half, the two best players in the United States played, one was Thomas and the other was Wilson. Thomas cut 13 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, and Wilson was very good under the basket, scoring 10 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 blocks in the half.
The third quarter is the last chance for Serbia, and if the point gap is not narrowed, then the fourth quarter will not be able to return to heaven. As a result, as soon as the second half began, the U.S. team seized the opportunity of consecutive mistakes by its opponents to score and play a wave of 7-0, continuing to extend its lead to 25 points. I have to admit that the US women's basketball team is too strong to pressure the opponent's defense!
Serbia scored just seven points in the entire third quarter, and by the end of the third quarter had fallen behind by 26 points, and the fourth quarter game had been directly reduced to garbage time ahead of time.
But I didn't expect that the disaster was not alone, and the fourth quarter of the game injury found the American team. In a basket layup, Lenny was directly fouled by the opponent in the air, and then slapped flat on the floor, covering his stomach in pain, and then unable to stick to the game to leave.
In the end, the United States beat Serbia by 33 points 88-55, taking the lead in the semifinals of this Women's Basketball World Cup, and their semi-final opponents will be the winners between Puerto Rico and Canada!
In this campaign, the American team can be said to be a soldier of the whole people, and the whole team has a total of points in the account, of which Thomas started 26 minutes, clocked in the third quarter, shot 3 of 4, slashed 13 points and 14 rebounds (including 6 frontcourt rebounds) 7 assists and 3 steals, which is undoubtedly the MVP of this game.
Center Wilson also did not hesitate to give up, playing 21 minutes, shooting 5-of-7 from the field, contributing 15 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 blocks. Gray had 8 points, 3 assists and 2 steals, Stewart had 2 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. Plumm played off the bench on 4-of-12 and 3-of-8 from three-pointers for a game-high 17 points plus two rebounds and four assists.
Although the Serbian side lost, Anderson, Nokic and Dzudjevic can be said to have lost and played quite well. Anderson had 14 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals, Norwich 9 points and 6 rebounds, Ratsa 6 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals, and Dzudjevic who came off the bench had 8 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist.