Team USA played its first game of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers in Puerto Rico on Wednesday, defeating Senegal 110-46.
The game was notable primarily for the debut of six senior national team members, including the 2024 and 2025 WNBA No. 1 picks, Caitlin Clark And Paige BueckersAlso the 2024 No. 7 pick, angel reese. The newcomers joined returning members of the national team such as kelsey plum, chelsea gray And jackie young.
The United States will play four more games in Puerto Rico. Since it has already qualified for the World Cup, which will be played in Germany in September, Cara Lawson’s team is using these competitions as an opportunity to build chemistry and learn Coach Lawson’s style for the first time.
Here are three takeaways and questions for Team USA during the qualifying tournament.
Team USA took advantage of its depth
Lawson made it clear that the rotation he played with on Wednesday isn’t necessarily the one he’ll use moving forward — and neither will the starting lineup.
Against Senegal, Lawson went with an experienced five starting players, including 2024 Olympic gold medalist Grey, Kahlah Copper And the youth in the first group. (Notably missing from the starting five was Plum, who was also part of the previous Olympic team.)
“The starting lineup is going to change, the rotation is going to change,” Lawson said. “As a coach, I’m still in fact-finding mode. Not in terms of who they are… but trying to find some chemistry and see what combinations work together.”
diorica hamby Starting with Reese in the frontcourt. with aliyah boston Unable to participate in the qualifiers due to a right foot injury at Unrevealed, the United States’ frontcourt depth is slightly lower at the guard positions.
Lawson highlighted his second unit – Clark. raine howardplum, Kiki Iriafen And monique billings – The group he believed gave the team an offensive spark. She brought in that group, swapping out all five starters midway through the first quarter.
Lawson said, “We have a very deep roster. And it’s one thing to say you have depth, but it’s another thing to take advantage of that depth.” “I thought our guys that came off the bench … took us to a different level. If you have a lot of depth, sometimes you’re playing either a tired starter or the other team’s bench. It’s a great opportunity to create separation in the game. They did that.”
Breaking down the debuts of first-timers
In addition to Bueckers, Clark, and Reese, Billings, Iriafen, and rae burrell Made his national team debut. Burrell didn’t check in until the fourth quarter.
“It’s an exciting day when you get a chance to debut for the U.S. women’s national team,” Lawson said. “I thought he played well. I don’t think you noticed that it was his debut. I thought he came in and had a reasonable level of respect for the game.”
The debuts of Clarke and Billings were most impressive. Clark finished with 17 points and 12 assists, while Billings added 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting and five rebounds. Both played for 19 minutes.
Reese, the only USA rookie to get the starting nod, finished with six points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes. Bueckers scored nine points with four rebounds and three assists in 14 minutes. His first points came on a 3-pointer about four minutes after checking in.
With five minutes left in the third quarter, Clark, Reese and Bueckers – three of the WNBA’s brightest young stars – shared the court for the first time, perhaps giving a glimpse of the future of USA Basketball.
“I’m just grateful,” Clark said. “Every time you wear this jersey, it’s a little different.”
How does the group mail continue?
Unlike other national teams, chemistry is always a question for Team USA, as it does not spend months playing together before the tournament. Typically, players are coming from their offseason or from their respective WNBA teams.
The group that makes up this roster is unique – 11 of the 12 players who represented the US in Puerto Rico had just finished playing in the Unrivaled. Whether they were teammates or rivals, they believed that time together helped them quickly adjust to Team USA.
“Yeah, it’s the first time for this group that they’re playing together [but] They’ve played together in different ways, in the WNBA, or in the USA, or in the Unmatched,” Lawson said. “There’s some synergy there.”
In their first game under Lawson, Team USA had a good feel for each other and avoided any glaring miscommunications or mistakes. Twenty-eight of the team’s 34 field goals were assisted on and it committed 13 turnovers. Lawson, who took over Team USA in September 2025 and was on the sidelines for the first time, will coach only the first two games of the qualifying tournament before returning to Duke for Selection Sunday.
“We don’t have a lot of time together, so every game is extremely important,” Plum said. “We’re not necessarily playing the scoreboard. We’re really focused on what we need to do to get better and grow as a team.”
