Day 5 marked the end of the group stage and the start of the knockout phase, with Hungary and China both securing their next steps in the tournament. While Hungary advanced to the quarterfinals, China kept its campaign alive with a commanding win over Italy, leaving plenty to dissect from the opening day of the knockout stage. Here’s what all happened:

Saki Hayashi goes off with a broken arm as Lelik drives Hungary to the quarterfinals

Hungary is producing difference-makers in every game they play, and when the usually dominant Dorka Juhasz was restricted to a modest 10 points, Reka Lelik took charge of proceedings and recorded one of her best outings in a Hungarian jersey.

As for Japan, they were already shorthanded before the first half even finished, as Saki Hayashi went off with an apparent arm injury after a foul. With just over a minute left in the second quarter, Hayashi needed immediate medical attention after Agnes Torok fouled her in the air.

To Hayashi’s credit, she ended up scoring the bucket in what would be her final points in this World Cup. The shooting guard was unable to continue, and a silence fell upon the arena as she lay still on the court. A blue tarp was provided to give her privacy, and fans responded with applause when she was helped to the sidelines. Hayashi had a standout performance in Japan’s opening game against Mali, in which she recorded 27 points and set the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup record for the most individual three-pointers made in a single game, drilling nine of her 15 attempts from beyond the arc. The previous record was eight.

Meanwhile, for the first time since 1986, Hungary punched its ticket to a top-eight finish after outlasting Japan 84-63. Lelik deservedly won the Player of the Game after recording 23 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. She also had one of the highest efficiency valuations in the World Cup so far, with 32. Only France’s Gabby Williams and Belgium’s Emma Meesseman have a better efficiency valuation, with 33 each. That made Lelik the third-highest efficiency performer in the tournament at that stage, underlining just how much she influenced Hungary’s biggest game of the tournament. Lelik was helped by Virág Takács-Kiss, who added 17 points.

Only Kokoro Tanaka scored points in double digits for Japan, with 11. Norika Konno and Mai Yamamoto pitched in with nine points each. Regardless, this was Japan’s third straight loss in the World Cup, as they will be on their way to the airport to prepare for the upcoming Asian Games starting next week.

But this was Hungary’s third straight win in the World Cup, and apart from securing quarterfinal qualification, this was a big victory for the 19th-ranked side in the world, overcoming 10th-ranked Japan. It also marked Hungary’s first appearance in the World Cup’s top eight since 1986, a gap of four decades. Hungary will now set its sights on an even bigger fish, as they prepare to face the USA in the competition for the first time in 40 years.

China to face Puerto Rico after overcoming Italy in Group D

China showed Italy why they were the runners-up in the previous edition of the World Cup back in Sydney, Australia. Head coach Gong Luming’s side convincingly won 71-51 to secure second place in Group D.

It was a clear gap from the start, as China led Italy for all but the opening 21 seconds. It was already too late for the Italians by the time the second half started, as they trailed 40-21. China also shot 51 percent from the field compared to Italy’s 38 percent, while going 8-for-19 from three-point range.

Center Han Xu led the way with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Yang Shuyu added 15 points. Zhang Ziyu came as a big surprise, as the 19-year-old gem also made an impact off the bench, scoring eight points on four-of-seven shooting in eight minutes.

Prior to this game, China was not looking like the usual heavyweight they usually are. It was a rematch of last edition’s World Cup final in China’s opening game of the tournament, as the USA came out on top with a dominant 94-61 victory. China did not do any wonders in their second game as well, but narrowly escaped the Czech Republic 74-70.

The win against Italy was China’s best performance to date, and that is the same feeling head coach Gong Luming expressed in the postgame press conference.

“Since the draw, we have regarded Italy as our main opponent and studied them extensively. We did a lot of work on both offense and defense.”

China guard Wang Siyu also commended his coach’s planning and noted that the team controlled turnovers well and was successful with its targeted defense against Italy.

Gong also said Gong said China would now turn its attention to Puerto Rico, which defeated Turkey 75-71 on Monday to secure a place in the qualification round.

“Puerto Rico’s win over Turkey shows that this is a very good team,” Gong said. “They have many characteristics of the North American style. We will pay close attention to studying how to play this game well.”

The winner between China and Puerto Rico would go on to face France in the quarterfinal, and while that is a test in itself, China is not a team that will back down from competition.

Will Team USA change its starting lineup against Hungary?

While Team USA remains undefeated and heads to the quarterfinals, Hungary might be a tougher challenge than it looks on the surface, as the European dark horses are also coming off three straight wins in the competition. We have already seen Team USA struggle against one European side, as they recorded their lowest World Cup scoring total since the three-point line was introduced in 1984 against Italy.

Team USA’s narrow 55-52 victory showed opponents that there are cracks within the team, and even analysts like Robin Lundberg have expressed that they would like to see it change. The numbers made that 55-52 escape particularly striking: USA shot just 29 percent from the field and 8.3 percent from three, while missing its first 10 attempts from beyond the arc.

“I still am not a fan of the starters… Jackie Young has played well, but I don’t like Jackie Young’s fit with the other group. Chelsea Grey and Kahleah Copper are problematic in the starting lineup. To me, I don’t need to see that every single game anymore.” Lundberg said on his YouTube channel.

However, head coach Kara Lawson remains adamant about starting the veterans over giving the younger generation a chance. That veteran-heavy approach has been consistent from the start, with Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, Kahleah Copper, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier making up the opening lineup against China.

Lundberg feels that Lawson should finally start changing the core in the starting lineup. While Jackie Young leads the team in scoring with an average of 11.3 points per game, veterans Chelsea Gray and Kahleah Copper have not been up to the mark. Over the course of the first three games in the World Cup, Gray and Copper have scored a combined 10 points against China, 10 points against Italy, and seven points against the Czech Republic. The criticism is therefore less about USA lacking options and more about whether Lawson should lean further into a bench that already features several of the team’s biggest offensive names.

Till now, Hungary has only lost to France, one of the favorites alongside the USA to win it all. Apart from France, Hungary has more or less displayed convincing victories against Nigeria, South Korea, and now Japan, making them one of the tougher opponents to face in the quarter-final.

While Lawson has never explicitly mentioned that she will change the lineup, she did commend Caitlin Clark and her playmaking proficiency following the game against Czechia. She stated that the group stage games would provide confidence to all the youngsters in the squad.

“(Caitlin) provides a great playmaking aspect to her game on our team. We rely on her at the point guard position when she’s in, to run the team. We saw that in the first game when she had 11 assists and zero turnovers.”

“She’s another young player that’s feeling her way through her first World Cup, you know? And she’s really motivated and wanting to help our team win. And I think that’s a great place to be. And I think all of our young players will take a lot from these three pool play games, give them a lot of confidence as we go into the middle round.”

Given how Gray and Copper have been performing, it won’t be a surprise if Lawson eventually switches them for the likes of Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese, who are all on the bench after having career-best seasons in the WNBA. Clark, in particular, has already shown the value of that reserve role, producing 14 points and 11 assists in the opening win over China, while Bueckers led USA with 14 points in the narrow victory over Italy.

Team USA and Hungary go at each other on Thursday, and it will be interesting to see if Lawson adds an element of unpredictability to her lineup or playing tactics as we enter the business end of the World Cup.