Team USA Dominates Czechia, Extends World Cup Winning Streak
BERLIN — Less than 24 hours after grinding through their ugliest offensive showing in four decades, Team USA walked into the arena on Monday and flipped the switch.
From the opening tip, there was no doubt.
The Americans throttled Czechia 105-64 to close out Group D at the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, moving to 3-0 and stretching their World Cup winning streak to a staggering 33 games, a run that began back in 2006.
On Sunday, they had scraped past Italy 55-52, their lowest World Cup point total since 1984. On Monday, they looked like Team USA again.
Six players hit double figures. Every player scored. The gap in class was obvious and merciless.
Stewart and the veterans set the tone
This is a roster packed with new faces, but the game belonged to the old guard.
Breanna Stewart, the player of the game, took ownership of the night from the jump. She poured in 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out six assists in just 17 minutes, dictating tempo and mood as much as the scoreboard.
She and Napheesa Collier carved Czechia apart in the first half, combining for 25 points before the break and setting a standard the rest of the roster had no choice but to follow. Collier added 12 points and, just as importantly, the defensive bite USA had been missing against Italy.
“I thought it was a great response that we had from yesterday's game,” Collier said. “Obviously, we didn't shoot well, but coming out with the aggression that we did, especially on defense, I thought our on ball defense was pretty good. I saw a lot of people got their hands in.”
Stewart’s performance carried a sense of history. Already a three-time Olympic gold medalist, she is now in her fourth World Cup, joining Sue Bird (5) and Diana Taurasi (4) as the only American women with at least four appearances. If USA finishes this campaign with gold, Stewart will tie Bird for the most World Cup titles.
On a night built around response and standards, she did exactly what she said she wanted: lead in every possible way.
Lawson’s challenge answered
The transformation started long before the opening tip.
After nearly letting Italy steal Sunday’s game, head coach Kara Lawson didn’t sugarcoat anything with her newly formed group. She questioned their passion, their competitive edge, their intensity — the non-negotiables when you wear USA across your chest.
“Let this be the last time that a team plays with more passion than us throughout the course of the game,” Lawson told them. “Let this be the last time that all 12 (players) don't show up to compete at a high level. And then let this be the last time that we lack a resilient mindset because we're so upset that we're not scoring the way we're normally scoring. Your contribution has to be your effort, your passion, your energy, your intensity that you play with.”
The message landed.
USA blitzed Czechia from the perimeter, knocking down three straight 3-pointers to open the game and ripping off a 13-4 run that set the tone for a 14-point lead after the first quarter. From there, the result was a formality. The margin ballooned to 41 by the final buzzer — their biggest win of the tournament so far.
“I knew our offense would come around. I’m so pleased with the way they are playing. Their effort and energy,” Lawson said at halftime. “That was good to see."
Angel Reese powered her way to 13 points. Jackie Young and Collier each added 12. Paige Bueckers and Sonia Citron chipped in 10 apiece. The scoring sheet read like a roll call.
This was not just a win. It was a statement that Lawson’s words had teeth.
Threes start to fall, offense loosens up
On Sunday, the 3-point line was a graveyard for USA: 1-for-12 from deep against Italy.
On Monday, the lid came off.
Stewart’s 3-pointer with 9:09 left in the first quarter opened the Americans’ scoring and loosened everything up. The ball moved, the floor stretched, and Czechia’s defense never caught up.
USA hit five 3s in the first half and finished 7-for-25. The volume still wasn’t elite, but the distribution mattered more: seven different players connected from beyond the arc.
“We took some strides in transition offense,” Lawson said. "I thought we made some strides in our half court offensive execution, and our defensive awareness.”
The offense finally looked like it had layers again — early threes, rim pressure, second-chance points — instead of the grinding, static possessions that nearly cost them against Italy.
Iriafen seizes her chance
One of the clearest signs of USA’s depth came from a player who didn’t even touch the floor the day before.
Kiki Iriafen went from a DNP against Italy to a force of nature against Czechia. Given her chance by Lawson, she responded with a relentless eight-minute cameo: five points, 11 rebounds, six of them on the offensive glass, plus a steal.
Every extra possession she created felt like a reminder of what this roster can be when everyone is locked in and ready. On a team where roles can change game to game, Iriafen showed exactly what “staying ready” looks like.
Czechia overwhelmed on the way out
For Czechia, this was the harshest of farewells.
They leave the tournament 0-3 after losses to Italy, China and now the United States. Against USA, they were simply overrun. Outrebounded 55-35. Outscored 52-30 in the paint. Turned over 16 times.
“We played against the best of the best, the United States,” head coach Romana Ptáčková said. "It was really tough. We knew that, we knew that it's going to be hard in a low post and they showed us that.”
The numbers backed her up. USA’s size and physicality crushed them inside, and once the Americans started hitting from deep, there was nowhere left to hide.
The cruelest subplot belonged to Eliska Joklova. Hours before tipoff, the Minnesota Lynx announced they were waiving the guard to make room for newly signed Aari McDonald. Joklova responded with pride, scoring a team-high 19 points — the only Czech player in double figures — but it was buried under the weight of a 41-point defeat.
One blemish in a dominant night
If Lawson needed something to circle on the film, she got it.
USA protected the ball superbly early, with zero turnovers in the first quarter and just two by halftime. Then came the drop-off. The Americans coughed it up 11 times in the second half, gifting Czechia 11 points and adding a note of irritation to an otherwise ruthless performance.
“We're improving every day. ... Every day that we're together, we're getting understanding of how to play off of one another, even how to communicate off of one another,” Lawson said.
That communication will have to tighten as the stakes rise. Sloppy stretches that don’t matter in a 41-point win can turn into medal-round trouble in a heartbeat.
Quarterfinals next — and the standard is clear
With Group D swept and the streak pushed to 33, Team USA now heads into Thursday’s quarterfinal in Berlin against the winner of Japan-Hungary.
They arrive with their identity sharpened. The veterans are driving the bus. The newcomers are starting to understand the standard. The response to adversity has been loud and emphatic.
The margin for error will shrink from here. The expectation will not.
