Women’s basketball World Cup: U.S. advances to semifinals against Canada

Kelsey Plum, left, of the United States tries to drive past Serbia’s Sasa Cado during their quarterfinal at the women’s basketball World Cup in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday. Mark Baker/Associated Press

SYDNEY — Alyssa Thomas and her United States teammates were tested for the first time in the World Cup by a physical Serbia team.

After a slow start, the Americans used a dominant run spanning the half to take control of the game and reach the semifinals again. Thomas had 13 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists to help the U.S. beat Serbia 88-55 in the quarterfinals of the women’s World Cup on Thursday.

“I think you expect every team’s best punch in the first quarter,” Thomas said. “We just had to settle into the game, and once we settled in, then we were really able to break away.”

Kelsey Plum scored 17 points and A’ja Wilson added 15 to lead the Americans (6-0), who will face Canada in the semifinals on Friday.

“They played super physical, more physical than we’ve seen the entire tournament,” Plum said. “Credit to them. I felt that early on their pressure bothered us a little bit, but we were able to kind of get under control.”

The Americans had run through pool play, winning by 46.2 points per game, and hadn’t faced any kind of challenge. Serbia (3-2) wasn’t afraid though, going right at the U.S. The Serbians scored the first basket of the game – the first time the Americans trailed in the tournament.

It was back-and-forth for the first 17 minutes, with the U.S. failing to go on any major run. Then, with 2:59 left in the half and the U.S. up by five, Kahleah Copper drove to the basket and was fouled. She landed hard on her hip and was helped off the court by the U.S. training staff. Copper, who has been a spark plug for the U.S. in her first tournament, didn’t return.

“It’s too early to tell,” Reeve said of the extent of Copper’s injury. “We’re getting her some imaging and we’ll have information later.”

Plum replaced Copper and hit the two free throws, starting a 12-0 run to close the half as the Americans led 50-33 at the break. Thomas had 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals in the opening 20 minutes.

The U.S. extended its run to 20 straight points in the third quarter before Serbia finally ended a nearly 8 1/2-minute drought with a 3-pointer by Yvonne Anderson. That cut the deficit to 22 points. Serbia didn’t get much closer after that.

Anderson led Serbia with 14 points.

American Betnijah Laney went down hard early in the fourth quarter on a putback. She left the game and sat on the bench for the rest of the game.

“She took a hard fall,” Reeve said. “She was in the locker room afterward, and I think in her case, it was a little more of it took the wind out of her.”

The victory was the 28th in a row in World Cup play for the Americans, who haven’t lost since the 2006 semifinals against Russia. The Soviet Union holds the World Cup record with 56 straight wins from 1959-86.

After going unbeaten in pool play again, the U.S. reached at least the semifinals for the 12th consecutive tournament, dating to 1975. That year completed a cycle in which the Americans lost 14 games combined in four tournaments. They’ve only lost five games since.

No one on Canada’s roster was born the last time the team won a medal at the women’s World Cup, and now the Canadians need to beat the Americans to secure one for the first time since 1986, when they captured the bronze.

“It’s really special,” said Kia Nurse, who scored 17 points to lead a balanced 79-60 win over Puerto Rico.

“It’s been a work in progress for us and we all felt the disappointments. Quarterfinals have been our downfall for a long time and to be able to get over that hump. … I think our country is continuing to get really excited about basketball in the grassroots programs and this is just the start of what we can accomplish.”

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