BERLIN -- 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.
Jackie Young scored 10 points to lead a struggling offense in a 55-52 win Sunday. It was the fewest points the Americans scored in a World Cup win since they beat Australia 42-38 in 1967.
"You have to be able to win different ways in this tournament because every team stylistically plays a little bit different," U.S. coach Kara Lawson said. "You do have to be able to win when you don't have your fastball. We didn't have a fastball tonight, but we figured it out late and we'll grow from it."
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.
"Obviously, Italy really kind of mucked up the game for us a little bit," Breanna Stewart said. "It made it difficult for us to score. They are a tough team. Tons of respect to what they've done. And, just proud of the resiliency of this group."
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 in the title game.
"We've seen that through the tournament that every game feels like a dogfight," Lawson said. "It's really hard. On any given night, if you're not prepared to play, you'll lose. That's awesome for our sport."
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 to put the Americans up 51-50. Young then hit a layup after Gray drew an offensive foul with 3:03 left.
"I thought that late charge Chelsea took was a big momentum-changing play," Lawson said. "It was an incredible winning play by Gray there."
Gray's jumper with 1:07 left made it a five-point game. Matilde Villa scored to get Italy back to 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't convert.
Italy (1-1) had one last chance to tie it, but Cecilia Zandalasini's 3-pointer was off at the buzzer.
Italy's 2-3 zone defense caused the U.S. fits. The Americans couldn't get into any rhythm and shot 29% from the field, including 1-for-12 from 3-point range. They also missed a number of layups.
"I think we missed some shots. We missed some layups, some shots that we have made in the past," Gray said.
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 cut the deficit to0 30-24 by halftime. 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.
Italy, which lost to the Americans by 34 in a tournament qualifier in March, wouldn't go away and was up 50-48 in the fourth quarter before the Americans' final push.
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.
"I would like to apologize for how I reacted in the end," Zandalasini said. "It was a lot of emotions today, but I should have kept them inside of me a little better."
The U.S. (2-0) has advanced ahead of its final game against the Czech Republic, which was eliminated after two losses. Up next for Italy is China (1-1) on Monday in Group D.
On Sunday, China needed overtime to beat the Czech Republic. Han Xu scored 22 points and drew China level at 53-53 in the final quarter after her team had trailed for most of the game.
Eliška Joklová put the Czechs 64-59 up with 27 seconds left only for Luo Xinyu to respond with a 3-pointer and Yang Shuyu to level at 64-64 with three seconds to go -- after Joklová missed two free throws. There was still time for Joklová to miss another chance to clinch the win.
Yang also completed the scoring in overtime for China, which failed to get the most from 7-foot-3 Zhang Ziyu. The 19-year-old sensation scored only three points in her second game after 13 in her World Cup debut against the United States on Friday.
"She has very great talent and we need to fix how we play together," Yang said of the teenager's performance. "Today everybody could see that we did not play so well with her, and we have to fix it."
Emma Meesseman completed the scoring as European champion Belgium booked its place in the final phase with a comfortable 76-64 win over Puerto Rico, its second victory in Group C.
Imani McGee-Stafford finished with 25 points for Puerto Rico, which lost against Belgium for the third time at a World Cup.
Maxuella Lisowa Mbaka was top scorer for the Belgians with 16 points, followed by Julie Vanloo with 15. Meesseman finished with six.
Both teams face a quick turnaround with little rest as they play the first games Monday at 11:30 a.m. local time.
"Hopefully, no fire alarms," said Belgium coach Mike Thibault, referring to an unwelcome disturbance that forced an evacuation of the teams' hotel in the middle of the night. "I don't like the schedule. Nobody does. But that's the way it is."
Belgium faces Australia (2-0) in a showdown to decide which team progresses directly to the quarterfinals as group winner, and Puerto Rico (0-2) will be playing for survival against Turkey (0-2).
"Nothing we can do about it," Lisowa Mbaka said of the schedule. "I'm not going to worry about something I can't control. I don't think that's the way you should think about the game or life in general."
Ezi Magbegor scored 21 points as Australia reached the final phase with a physical 87-71 win over Turkey earlier Sunday.
Turkey, led by Sevgi Uzun with 24 points, was down 8-0 at the start but fought back after a timeout to lead 15-14. But that was brief as the Opals rallied to end the first quarter 21-15 up and did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game.
The Australian team features seven World Cup debutants. Team captain Sami Whitcomb of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury had to withdraw before the tournament because of a lingering knee injury.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
