Dream world: Four players have strong performance at FIBA Women’s World Cup

The Dream’s representation at the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup in Berlin has been a strong showing.

Dream center Angel Reese and wing Rhyne Howard have posted highlight-worthy plays and have come up big in Team USA’s undefeated tournament run to the semifinals.

Also, Dream forwards Isobel Borlase (Australia) and Sika Kone (Mali) represented their countries well.

Team USA has gone undefeated leading into their semifinal game against Spain at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Reese and Howard have helped Team USA in their bid for their fifth straight World Cup gold and 12th overall. Through four games that include the three group phase matchups and the quarterfinal outing, Reese has averaged 8.8 points and six rebounds off the bench. She has made 63.2% — the highest among players at the Women’s World Cup — of her shots from the field.

Her performances through the tournament so far has also pushed her into the conversation for the FIBA Women’s World Cup MVP.

The 24-year-old has also made some eye-popping defensive plays that have heated up the conversation about her merit for WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. Reese has made some timely blocks, including two in Team USA’s close win over Italy on Sept. 6. Then, one day later, Reese had three steals against Czechia.

Like her teammate, Howard’s defense has shined, including a four-steal outing against Hungary. She’s averaged 2.3 steals per game over four contests, tied for fourth among tournament players.

But she’s also become one of Team USA’s most reliable shooters, along with Mercury’s Kahleah Copper. Across four games, Howard has shot 38.1% from deep on an average of 5.3 3-point attempts per game.

She’s averaging 8.5 points and two assists per game.

Borlase helped Australia reach the knockout stage, where they fell to Spain. In Australia’s qualification game against Italy for the quarterfinals, Borlase scored 30 points, had four rebounds and five assists.

Her performance earned her a player of the game nod. Over five games, Borlase averaged 11.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and three assists.

Kone had a storybook outing in her team’s second game of the Women’s World Cup. She helped lead Mali to an upset over Spain, where she had 19 points and 10 rebounds on 4-of-5 shooting from 3.