SYDNEY — Kelsey Plum scored 20 points, Chelsea Gray added 16 and the United States women routed Bosnia and Herzegovina 121-59 on Tuesday to break the team record for consecutive wins at the World Cup.
The victory was the 27th in a row in World Cup play for the Americans, who haven’t lost since the 2006 semifinals against Russia. The U.S. won 26 in a row from 1994-2006 leading up to that game. The Soviet Union holds the World Cup record with 56 straight wins from 1959-86.
What started with Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Sylvia Fowles has now been passed on to Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson. A legacy of excellence that doesn’t appear it will end anytime soon. After going unbeaten in pool play again, the U.S. hasn’t lost a game prior to the semifinals since 1983.
The Americans (5-0) won their pool games by an average of 46.2 points and never trailed in any of them.
The U.S. was coming off a record rout of South Korea in which the team broke the World Cup record for points with 145. While the Americans didn’t match that number, they put the game out of reach in the first 10 minutes, going up 33-15.
The lead ballooned to 63-31 at halftime. Bosnia and Herzegovina put together a small run to start the third quarter, but the U.S. scored the final 19 points of the period.
Once again they used a dominant inside performance, outscoring Bosnia and Herzegovina 84-28 in the paint led by Wilson, Stewart and Brionna Jones.
The U.S. was missing Jewell Loyd, whom the team said was resting. Kahleah Copper started in her place and finished with 11 points.
Nikolina Elez scored 19 points to lead the Bosniaks (0-5), who were playing in their first World Cup.
SCOREBOARD
In other games Tuesday, Puerto Rico routed South Korea 92-73 to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time. China routed Belgium 81-55 for second place in the pool. Canada played Mali, France faced Serbia, and Australia went against Japan. While all the other quarterfinals spots are locked in, the positioning of the teams was still to be determined. FIBA will hold a draw for the matchups in the elimination round after the Australia-Japan game.
UP NEXT
Bosnia and Herzegovina: tournament is over.
U.S.: plays in the quarterfinals Thursday.