Caitlin Clark made her FIBA Women's World Cup debut on Friday, Sept. 4.
The point guard held her own, scoring a team-high 14 points in a 94-61 victory over China in the first game of the group stage in Berlin, Germany. Clark added three rebounds and 11 assists with no turnovers. Paige Bueckers and Rhyne Howard also scored 14 points.
"Like, how lucky am I? This is pretty special and pretty cool, and there's so many people that would kill to be in this spot and have this type of opportunity," Clark told FIBA before the tournament began.
"Especially to play for the USA team, let alone play in the WNBA and live out your dream every single day. So I try to look at, look at it the other way and think about how lucky I am and how grateful I am."
Clark
is averaging 22.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 8.4 assists for the Fever. She is having a breakout season after missing all but 13 games last season after a series of soft tissue injuries. Clark is a generational playmaker, often seeing passing windows before they open. And don't forget about the 3-pointer, which she can hit from 30 feet with ease.
Team USA continued its dominance in this tournament — it has won nine of the last 12 FIBA World Cups, including four in a row. The USA continues its play against Italy and Czechia in the group stage, which runs through Sept. 7. The quarterfinal qualifiers are Sept. 8 and 9. The quarterfinals are Sept. 10 with semifinals on Sept. 12. The third-place and championship games are slated for Sept. 13.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Caitlin Clark has double-double as USA beats China in FIBA World Cup
