BERLIN — Saki Hayashi and Japan set records for three-pointers on the first day of the Women’s Basketball World Cup while Caitlin Clark also starred on her tournament debut for the United States on Friday.
Clark had 14 points and 11 assists to help the U.S. beat China , which was led by 7-foot-3 Zhang Ziyu , 94-61 in its opener at the Max-Schmelling-Halle. It was the same Berlin venue where the U.S. defeated Russia in the final for the 1998 title, the country’s sixth. Rhyne Howard also scored 14 points and Jackie Young added 12 for the Americans, who have won 31 consecutive World Cup games dating to a loss in the 2006 semifinals. Dominique Malonga, Gabby Williams and Marine Johannes each scored 17 points for the Olympic silver medalist. Leonie Fiebich scored 13 points to lead Germany, followed by Nyara Sabally with 10. Steph Talbot scored 19 points as Australia defeated Puerto Rico 70-54.
Mali led for most of the game before Mai Yamamoto brought Japan level for the first time at 79-79 with 6:30 left in the final quarter. Emma Meesseman had 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists to lead European champion Belgium to the 89-75 victory. She scored nine of those points in the final two minutes of the third quarter as Belgium outscored Turkey 27-9 in the third period. Turkey held a 45-44 lead at the end of the first half.
Kokoro Tanaka completed the scoring with a free throw.
Hayashi scored nine three-pointers to beat the previous record of eight as she helped Japan to a 102-97 win over Mali. Altogether, Japan scored 20 to beat its shared team record from 1994.
