USA Defeat Spain 84-70 to Conclude FIBA Women's World Cup Qualifying

18 March 2026

USA 84, ESP 70

The USA Basketball Women's National Team beat Spain 84-70 on Tuesday night to finish with a 5-0 record in the Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The USA qualified for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup in Berlin by winning the 2025 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup.

View the USA-Spain box score here.

POSTGAME NOTES

Lucky Lineup: Lead coach Nate Tibbetts called on Chelsea Gray, Kahleah Copper, Jackie Young, Rhyne Howard and Dearica Hamby to start the USA’s fifth and final game of the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament. Tibbetts was the lead coach, as head coach Kara Lawson returned to her responsibilities at Duke University to prepare for the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

(Sham)rockin vs. Spain: The USA improved to 12-0 versus Spain in senior national team competitions. Tonight’s matchup was the first between the two countries at the senior level since the 2016 Olympic Games (USA defeated ESP 95-81 on 8/20/16).

Happy Hour: Key contributions from Copper (20 points, 2 rebounds), Kelsey Plum (18 points, 3 rebounds) and Hamby (14 points, 7 rebounds) paced the USA against Spain. The battle on the glass favored the red, white and blue, as 13 offensive rebounds helped lead to 12 second chance points. The Americans had 3 games with 10+ second chance points scored (34 vs. SEN; 17 vs. PUR; 12 vs. ESP) this tournament.

Luck o’ the Young N’ Turnt: The U.S. reserves had a big impact tonight via Paige Bueckers’ play making, Caitlin Clark’s scoring and Angel Reese’s glass work. Bueckers’ added 9 points (4-9 FG, 1-3 3FG) in 19 minutes to go with 2 assists and 2 rebounds. Clark had a team-high 7 assists along with 7 points, a block and a steal in 22 minutes. Reese snagged a team-best 8 rebounds and chipped in 4 points in 18 minutes.

Shenanigan-free: The U.S. will likely be the top scoring team across all four Women’s World Cup Qualifying tournaments, averaging 95.8 points over the five tournament games. Impressively, the USA scored over the century mark twice (110 vs. SEN; 101 vs. NZL) and more than 90 points four times (93 vs. ITA; 91 vs. PUR). With one game remaining in the San Juan tournament (NZL vs. PUR), the Americans are tracking to finish with four of the top five scoring performances.

Press Your Luck: Across the five games, the USA opponents shot 33.6% (102-304 FG) from the field. Meanwhile, the American offense thrived, shooting a blistering 55.1% (178-323 FG).

Green Means Go: 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 42.0 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; USA def. ESP 84-70 on 3/17/26).

At The End of The Rainbow: 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).