United States players Caitlin Clark, right, and Angel Reese, second right, react during the Women's Basketball World Cup match between the United States and Czechia in Berlin, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026.·(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)·Source: AP
The United States beat Hungary 108-56 in the quarterfinals of the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup on Thursday morning in Berlin.
The Americans shot 59 percent from the field to Hungary's 34 and forced 27 turnovers.
The numbers
USA: 40-of-68 from the field, 12-of-23 from three, 42 rebounds, 31 assists, 17 steals. Hungary: 22-of-64, 9-of-28, 29 rebounds, 27 turnovers.
Rhyne Howard led all scorers with 15 off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting, three from deep, with four steals in 17 minutes.
Napheesa Collier had 19 on 9-of-13 in 15 minutes. Jackie Young and Kahleah Copper each had 10.
Caitlin Clark
Clark played 20 minutes off the bench and finished with 10 points and nine assists, shooting 3-of-8 with a three and 3-of-4 from the line. Three rebounds, two steals, three turnovers.
She assisted an Aliyah Boston three in the first quarter and hit her own from the wing in the second.
She has come off the bench in all four games. Against China she had 14 points and 11 assists. Against Italy she scored one point on 0-for-6 and sat the final seven minutes of a 55-52 win — the first time in her college or professional career she failed to make a field goal. Against Czechia she had nine and seven.
Kara Lawson has started Breanna Stewart, Collier, Copper, Chelsea Gray and Young in all four.
Thursday's other quarterfinals
8:30 a.m. — France vs. China 11:45 a.m. — Belgium vs. Germany 2:45 p.m. — Australia vs. Spain
What's next
Semifinals are Saturday in Berlin. The United States plays the Australia–Spain winner. The third-place game and final are Sunday.
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Hungary
The United States has beaten Hungary five times in five meetings. The previous one was in 1986.
Hungarian players wave to fanes after the Women's Basketball World Cup quarterfinal match between the United States and Hungary in Berlin, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. — (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Dorka Juhász, the Minnesota Lynx forward who had 22 points and 11 rebounds in Hungary's win over Korea on Sunday, went 1-for-12 with two points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes.
Minnesota Lynx forward Dorka Juhasz (14) during a WNBA basketball game against the Golden State Valkyries in San Francisco, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. — (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Réka Lelik led Hungary with 12. Ágnes Török added 11 off the bench with two threes. Kinga Josepovits, the 18-year-old center listed at 6-foot-5, went 4-for-4 for nine.
Virág Takács-Kiss, who plays for Valencia in Spain and had 14 against Korea, went 1-for-10.
The WPBL playoffs are the same two nights
The first professional women's baseball postseason in more than seventy years began Wednesday in Springfield, Illinois, with Hall of Fame closer Lee Smith throwing the ceremonial first pitch.
Major League Baseball Hall of Fame players Billy Wagner, from left, Rollie Fingers, Lee Smith and Trevor Hoffman walk on the field before a baseball game between the Minnesota Twins and the Philadelphia Phillies at the Field of Dreams movie site, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Dyersville, Iowa. — (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Smith was in Dyersville a month ago too, walking the field with Billy Wagner, Rollie Fingers and Trevor Hoffman before the Field of Dreams Game, and in Cooperstown in July for induction weekend. Four Hall of Fame closers on a cornfield in August, one of them opening a women's professional postseason in September.
Hall of Famer Lee Smith arrives on stage during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y., Sunday, July 26, 2026. — (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
San Francisco 6, Boston 4.
The top-seeded Firebells took Game 1 of the best-of-three semifinal. Skylar Kaplan went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Kelsie Whitmore, who hit 11 home runs in 15 regular-season games, started on the mound, went five innings with two earned runs, and moved to center field.
Boston's Beth Greenwood — the catcher who also coaches — drove in three. The Hunters scored in the seventh on a Ticara Geldenhuis single but left the tying run on.
There is no wire photography from the game. The league runs its own broadcast and social feeds and has kept credentialed access tight in year one, which means most of what exists from Robin Roberts Stadium comes from the WPBL itself.
Thursday, Sept. 10 — Los Angeles at New York, 8:00 p.m. ET
Boston Red Sox mascot Wally takes a selfie with Women's Pro Baseball League players including Samantha Gutierrez, right, ahead of a spring training game between the Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Fort Myers, Fla. — (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Why this is on a baseball site
Clark has a documented history with the game.
She threw a ceremonial first pitch at Wrigley Field before a Cubs-Cardinals game in August 2022, while she was still at Iowa.
University of Iowa Women's basketball player Caitlin Clark throws out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals Monday, Aug. 22, 2022, in Chicago. — (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)Indiana Fever basketball player Caitlin Clark, left, talks with San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer, right, during a baseball game between the Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in San Francisco — (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
She's turned up at Yankee Stadium and at Oracle Park, where she sat near the home dugout and called the ballpark a bucket-list stop.
WNBA basketball player Caitlin Clark and Texas Rangers Josh Jung are photographed before a baseball double header game between the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024 in New York. — (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
She is also playing during the arrival of ten new professional women's leagues since 2024. The New York Times counted them last week: hockey, softball, two volleyball leagues, three basketball ventures, lacrosse, rugby, baseball, and a flag football league coming next year.
Jewell Lloyd, a WNBA basketball player for the Seattle Storm, throws out the first pitch of a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros, Saturday, April 16, 2022, in Seattle. — (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
NBA 2K27 shipped last week with Clark on the global Deluxe Edition cover — the first WNBA player on a premium NBA 2K cover — alongside Victor Wembanyama.
The game also added a playable FIBA World Cup mode, where MyPLAYER characters can leave their club season to represent their countries. And it opened MyPLAYER creation to female characters for the first time, in a fully co-ed online environment where height, weight, wingspan and ratings drive everything regardless of who you built.
Both cover athletes spent the launch window playing for their national teams. Wembanyama was in Belgrade and Orléans for FIBA World Cup qualifiers two weeks ago. Clark is in Berlin.
Nobody had to be argued into any of this. You build a lineup, she's available, and three quarters later you've watched her shoot next to Bam Adebayo and a vintage Gail Goodrich. The interest arrives after the fact.
That's roughly what the WPBL is banking on too, and what MLB has quietly encouraged without owning any of it — Rob Manfred taped a welcome for the league's first draft, the Red Sox hosted the opening stop of its promotional tour at Fenway, and the league plays by MLB's modern rules, pitch clock and extra-innings runner included.
Schedule, rosters and statistics via FIBA and the WPBL. Lawson quote via OutKick. League count via The New York Times.
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