Team USA may have walked away with a win against Puerto Rico, but Caitlin Clark wasn’t pretending everything clicked on the court. The offense looked a little off, the rhythm wasn’t quite there, yet one performance still earned Clark’s praise.

That performance came from Paige Bueckers, who ended up leading Team USA in scoring despite what Clark described as a “clunky” outing for the group in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Qualifying Tournament.

“I thought the game was a little clunky; we probably didn’t play our best. I thought Paige played really well. But it felt good! I mean, I obviously didn’t shoot it as well as I probably would have liked. I think their zone kind of threw us off, and it slowed down our pace a little bit. We didn’t get as much in transition,” Clark said while speaking to the reporters after the game.

Even with the offense slowing down at times, Bueckers still managed to stand out. The Dallas Wings star provided a steady scoring punch for the Americans and led the team in scoring with 16 points, along with four rebounds and three assists.

The performance continued what has been a promising start for Bueckers with the senior national team. Alongside Caitlin Clark, she is part of a young core gaining valuable international minutes during the tournament as head coach Kara Lawson evaluates different combinations heading into the 2026 FIBA World Cup.

The game also offered a glimpse into the emerging chemistry between Bueckers and Angel Reese as they finally shared the floor together on the international stage. In the two games that the Americans have played so far, Bueckers’ playmaking has paired naturally with Reese’s energy on the glass and inside the paint.

Their complementary styles were already visible against Senegal. Bueckers contributed across the board with nine points and three assists in limited minutes, while Reese dominated the glass with a team-high eight rebounds, offering an early glimpse of how their games could mesh as the tournament progresses.

Against Puerto Rico, Reese once again made her impact felt inside as she recorded a double-double off the bench with 10 points and 13 rebounds while giving Team USA valuable second-chance opportunities.

But while these two players dominated most of the game, Clark had to work through a rare off-night of her own.

One night after a historic debut, Caitlin Clark runs into resistance

Just a day after lighting up the tournament opener, Clark experienced a very different kind of game against Puerto Rico.

In Team USA’s first matchup of the qualifiers, the Indiana Fever guard looked completely in control. In just 19 minutes against Senegal, Clark poured in 17 points and 12 assists, knocking down four of her five attempts from beyond the arc while orchestrating the offense with ease.

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But against Puerto Rico, Caitlin Clark rotated in for the final five minutes of each quarter as coach Lawson experimented with different lineup combinations throughout the game. At various stretches, she shared the floor with a rotating mix of veterans and young stars as the coaching staff evaluated lineup chemistry and rotation balance.

Those shifting lineups, combined with Puerto Rico’s zone defense, slowed the fast-paced style that typically fuels Caitlin Clark’s game. The guard ended up finishing with just eight points and two assists.

“I thought Puerto Rico played very, very hard,” coach Kara Lawson said after the game. “I thought we had some good spots, but also I thought we had some rough spots, and that’s good. It’s good to have rough spots sometimes, you’re able to figure some things out, and we’re still figuring things out.”

With Italy up next on the schedule, Clark and the Americans will have another chance to smooth out the rough edges. With Italy up next, Team USA will look to clean up those rough patches. But even on a “clunky” night, the individual brilliance of players like Bueckers and Reese showed just how dangerous this young American core can become.