After all 16 teams played their opening World Cup game on Friday, half of the teams are back at it today, navigating a tight turnaround as they aim to put themselves in position to advance out of the group stage and into the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
The first day of World Cup play was a reminder of the depth of international talent that now populates the women\u2019s basketball world. An increasing number of these players also are in the WNBA, although many are confined to smaller roles. With their national teams, in contrast, they are given the opportunity to shine, and number are taking advantage.<\/p>\n
After stellar star-level opening salvos, what\u2019s next for Mali\u2019s Sika Kon\u00e9, Nigeria\u2019s Amy Okonkwo, Japan\u2019s Saki Hayashi and South Korea\u2019s Jihyun Park? In the comments, let us now what underrated players have impressed you so far, as well as who you\u2019ll have your eyes on during the second day of the competition.<\/p>\n
It often takes a lot for Atlanta Dream head coach Karl Smesko to empty his bench. No matter how large the Dream\u2019s lead (or deficit), he tends to stick with his trusted starters until a game\u2019s final minutes, or even seconds.<\/p>\n
But when the opportunity arises, Sika Kon\u00e9, a deep reserve for the Dream, is always ready. And no matter how few ticks remain on the game clock, expect Sika to be aggressive and get her shots off.<\/p>\n
With that mindset, it\u2019s no surprise that she scored 17 first-half points for Mali, finishing with 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in Mali\u2019s eventual five-point loss to Japan. If not for Japan\u2019s 20 made 3s, a new tournament record, Kon\u00e9 and Mali might have been celebrating a noteworthy win.<\/p>\n
Now, they face a tougher task, matched up against a Spain side that crushed Germany behind a 17-point showing from Awa Fam (5:30 a.m. ET, HBO Max). However, don\u2019t expect Kon\u00e9 to be phased; she\u2019ll come out firing for upset-minded Mali.<\/p>\n
In the WNBA, Amy Okonkwo has been living the end-of-roster life.<\/p>\n
She often has occupied the final standard spot, or a development spot, on every team she\u2019s been on over the past year, and yet every time a team lets her go, she fairly quickly finds a new home.<\/p>\n
After finishing last season with the Dallas Wings, Okonkwo began training camp in Dallas this season, but did not make the final roster. She then was signed by the Dream on development player contract. A month after she was released, the Portland Fire added her on a hardship contract.<\/p>\n
For Nigeria, Okonkwo reminded of her appeal.<\/p>\n
D\u2019Tigress lost by 18 points to South Korea, despite 22 points, including a 4-for-8 effort from 3, from Okonkwo. She also grabbed seven boards. Her viability as a 3-point shooter, combined with her overall skill and physicality as a 6-foot-2 forward, makes it easy to see why WNBA teams repeatedly have been interested in Okonkwo, as well as why, if Nigeria is to best Hungary on Saturday, Okonkwo\u2019s versatility likely will be a reason why (8:15 a.m. ET, HBO Max).<\/p>\n
As noted above, Japan made a World Cup single-game record 20 triples in their opening win over Mali. Saki Hayashi was responsible for nine of them, also a single-game World Cup record.<\/p>\n
Two initial airballs did nothing to deter the confidence of sharpshooter.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old Hayashi has represented the Japanese national team on the international stage as far back as 2019, testifying to her readiness to rise to the moment. Her age, combined with her 5-foot-8 stature, suggests her big game won\u2019t necessarily encourage calls from WNBA teams, despite the league\u2019s increasing emphasis on shooting.<\/p>\n
However, Japan head coach Corey Gaines, the 2009 WNBA championship-winning coach of the Phoenix Mercury, did give Hayashi quite the compliment, indicating he\u2019d love to see her in a shooting contest against Diana Taurasi.<\/p>\n
If Hayashi again enters DT-mode against a German team that struggled in their opener against Spain, Japan should be comfortably sitting at 2-0 (12 p.m. ET, HBO Max).<\/p>\n
Jihyun Park (South Korea)<\/p>\n
Jihyun Park is a Los Angeles Spark. Literally.<\/p>\n
When tuning into a Sparks game over the course of the season, it has been near impossible not to notice Park whenever she has taken the floor for the purple and gold. She is pure hustle, battling for every loose ball in a manner that suggests the Sparks are battling for the playoffs, not long eliminated from postseason contention.<\/p>\n
For South Korea, Park had the opportunity to show she\u2019s more than just hustle.<\/p>\n
Park poured in 27 points, netting three 3s and earning 11 trips to the foul line as she led Japan to their convincing win over Nigeria.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Park will need all the hustle, scoring and other skills she can muster to help South Korea challenge a favored France team. The French pounded Hungary by more than 40 points in their opener, led by matching 17-point performance from their WNBA trio of Gabby Williams, Marine Johann\u00e8s and Dominique Malonga (2:45 p.m. ET, HBO Max).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After all 16 teams played their opening World Cup game on Friday, half of the teams are back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,118824,82,630],"class_list":["post-884178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fiba-world","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}