Dallas Wings Star Paige Bueckers Impresses in FIBA World Cup Qualifier Opener

Paige Bueckers made her official Team USA debut on Wednesday evening.

Jul 28, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) celebrates during the game between the Dallas Wings and the New York Liberty at College Park Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers made her debut for Team USA's Senior National Team on Wednesday evening, as they faced off against Senegal in the first game of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers. Team USA is already locked into the World Cup after winning the AmeriCup last year, but this is a great opportunity to gel as they've added a lot of young talent, such as Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, and Angel Reese.

Team USA completely dismantled Senegal, winning 110-46. This really became lopsided in the second quarter, where Team USA outscored Senegal 31-8 behind 12 points from Rhyne Howard. Any time a player completely outscores the entire other team in a quarter, it's usually a good indicator of how the game went.

In her first taste of the Senior Team, Paige Bueckers finished with 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in about 14 minutes of action. As expected, Team USA went with experience in the starting lineup, with Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray getting the nod at guard.

That didn't stop the youngsters from coming in and having a big impact, though. Rhyne Howard led all scorers with 21 points and 5 rebounds off the bench on 6/9 shooting, with all of her shots coming from three. Caitlin Clark also had a big performance with 17 points and 12 assists in 19 minutes off the bench.

Monique Billings and Kahleah Copper were the only other players in double figures for Team USA, but everyone who played in the game scored for Team USA.

Senegal's Khadija Faye and Nene Ndiaye each scored 12 points, and were the only two players for Senegal to have more than 7 points. This was always going to be a tough matchup for them, as it usually is going against Team USA in men's or women's basketball.

Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese in their USA senior national team debuts 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ZS19gaSjgN

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) March 11, 2026

Next Game for Paige Bueckers, Team USA

Paige Bueckers and Team USA will be right back at it on Thursday to face Puerto Rico at 8 p.m. EST. The games are being played in San Juan, so Puerto Rico will have a little home court advantage, but Team USA has a massive talent advantage.

Since they were able to rest a lot of the starters, Team USA should be well rested for this game, and there shouldn't be any reason for anything but a blowout. After this, Team USA will have a day of rest before playing Italy on Saturday evening.