USA Women Run Past New Zealand 101-46 at FIBA Women's World Cup Qualifying

15 March 2026

USA 101, NZL 46

The USA Basketball Women's National Team improved to 4-0 in the Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico after a 101-46 win over New Zealand on Sunday afternoon.

The USA, who have already qualified for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup in Berlin by winning the 2025 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup, will wrap up play in San Juan with Spain on Tuesday (5 p.m.).

View the USA-New Zealand box score here.

POSTGAME NOTES

Starting Selections: The USA rolled out its fourth different starting lineup in Sunday’s win versus New Zealand: Chelsea Gray, Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Plum, Dearica Hamby and Monique Billings. The start marks Clark’s first for the senior national team.

Resume Builder: The USA improved to 5-0 versus New Zealand in senior national team competitions. Tonight’s matchup was the first between the two countries at the senior level since the 2008 Olympic Summer Games (USA def. NZL 92-37 on 8/17/08).

Quality Wins: The USA is the only team to score more than 90+ points in 4 games of the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers. In addition to their 101 points tonight, the USA hit the mark versus Senegal (110), Puerto Rico (91) and Italy (93). They have only trailed for just 2:12 in this year’s tournament.

At-Large: Rhyne Howard led the U.S. in scoring for the second time this tournament, adding 18 points against New Zealand. Prior to tonight, the Americans had a different leading scorer in every game of World Cup Qualifying, dating back to 2022. Four years ago, it was Plum (16 vs. BEL on 2/11/22) and Ariel Atkins (14 vs. PUR on 2/12/22). This year, the top scorers were Howard (21 vs. SEN on 3/11/26), Paige Bueckers (16 vs. PUR on 3/12/26) and Kahleah Copper (15 vs. ITA on 3/14/26).

In fact, the USA has had 10 different players score in double figures which is the most of any team in the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers. For the fourth consecutive game in this tournament, the USA had at least 4 double figure scorers (18, Howard; 14, Clark; 10, Billings; 10, Plum).

Winning Metrics: The ball was moving for the U.S. and timely passing resulted in 29 assists on 40 made baskets. The Americans had 3 players with 5+ dimes, led by Clark (6) and complimented by Gray (5) and Plum (5). The USA has had at least 28 assists in 3 of the 4 games this tournament.

Scrubbing: For the fourth straight game, the U.S. defense held their opponent under 60 points. The Americans have not let an opponent score more than 20-points in a quarter and have held their opponents under 10-points in a quarter 4 times (8, 2nd quarter vs. SEN; 7, 1st quarter vs. PUR; 6, 2nd quarter vs. NZL; 7, 4th quarter vs. NZL).

Strength of Schedule: In 2022, the USA played a pair of World Cup Qualifying games. The U.S. outscored their opponents in those games by 23.5 points per game (USA def. BEL 84-75 on 2/11/22; USA def. PUR 93-55 on 2/12/22). In 4 games this year, the Americans have notched a winning margin of 49.0 points (USA def. SEN 110-46 on 3/11/26; USA def. PUR 91-48 on 3/12/26; USA def. ITA 93-59 on 3/14/26; USA def. NZL 101-46 on 3/15/26).

Top Seed: By winning the 2025 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup, the USA automatically qualified for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup Sept. 4-13 in Berlin. The FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournaments, hosted in four different locations on three continents, features six teams playing on a round-robin basis in hope of finishing in the top three to earn a berth to Berlin. The U.S. is chasing a fifth consecutive World Cup gold medal (12th overall).