Team USA flexes their dominance at FIBA World Cup after surprise demotion

Team USA is used to being on top.So maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that head coach Kara Lawson and Kahleah Copper appeared blissfully unaware Thursday morning that the Americans dropped to second behind France in FIBA’s official power rankings earlier this week.While the U.S.stated they were oblivious to the fact that some observers no longer considered them the favorites to win this year’s FIBA Women’s World Cup title, the Americans reminded the world they’re a force to be reckoned with in their 108-56 quarterfinals win against Hungary.The U.S., in pursuit of its fifth consecutive World Cup gold medal, bullied Hungary from the jump en route to delivering what Lawson said was “one of our most complete performances of the tournament.”Every American scored, with Napheesa Collier leading the way with her tournament-high 19 points.The U.S.

shot 58.8 percent from the field and had 31 assists on 40 made field goals.Caitlin Clark accounted for a team-high nine assists.

The game was over before the first quarter ended.The Americans extinguished any hope that the Hungarians could stick around and make this game somewhat interesting, with the U.S.outscoring its opponent 36-12 in the opening 10 minutes.“We couldn’t bring the energy today to the court that would be necessary to play a close game against the U.S.,” Hungary coach Péter Völgyi said through a translator.

“Missed a lot of open shots, and on the other end, we allowed to get the U.S.some easy baskets.

So basically, after the first quarter, it was game.”The U.S.were in complete control for all of Thursday, with their suffocating defense jumpstarting the offense.Team USA scored an eye-popping 44 points off of Hungary’s 27 turnovers.

They did a bulk of the damage inside, scoring 52 points in the paint.“Defensively, we were active, forced a lot of turnovers,” Lawson said in the postgame press conference.“Was really pleased by that.

And then offensively, we as coaches love when the...