Lelik's 23-8-4 Puts Hungary on USA
Lelik's 23-8-4 night sends Hungary into the quarterfinals against USA.
Photo: WNBA.com / Minnesota Lynx. Official league headshot of Dorka Juhasz (#14, Hungary), 1040×760, full head.
Hungary beat Japan 84-63 and booked USA in the quarterfinals, Hungary's first World Cup top-eight finish since 1986.
Reka Lelik scored 23 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists on 8-of-12 shooting.
Watch Japan shade the twin towers. Juhasz drew the help. Lelik walked into the gap and kept finishing.
Quarters went 20-12, 17-22, 21-11, 26-18. Hungary shot 28-of-56 (50 percent) and 11-of-25 from three. Japan went 22-of-69 (32 percent) and 7-of-33 from deep. The glass was 46-35. Berlin Arena put a Qualification-to-Quarterfinals stamp on a night that started as a bracket problem and ended as a date with the Americans.
Juhasz finished with 10 points in 32 minutes, the quietest line she has worn in this tournament. Virag Takacs-Kiss still put up 17 and 8. Agnes Studer added 11 with three makes from deep. The third dimension carried the scoring. Lelik in 28 minutes, 6-of-6 at the line, efficiency 32, TCL Player of the Game. FIBA ranked that efficiency third at the Women's World Cup so far, behind Emma Meesseman and Gabby Williams at 33.
Japan's best answers sat in pieces. Kokoro Tanaka scored 11. Stephanie Mawuli and Nanako Todo had 8 each. Rui Machida ran the show for 28 minutes with 12 assists and only 3 points. The threes never arrived. Thirty-three attempts, seven makes. Hungary's second-half defense is the part that travels into Thursday. Japan scored 11 in the third and 18 in the fourth after a 22-point second.
Hungary is 3-1 and 19th in the FIBA World Ranking Women. Japan is 1-3 and ranked 10th. Ranking charts do not play minutes. The bracket does. USA already finished Group D 3-0 behind Breanna Stewart's 19-7-6 in 16:47 against Czechia. Thursday is the first USA-Hungary World Cup meeting since 1986.
The closeout on Lelik is the possession to save. Japan kept crowding the paint for Juhasz and Takacs-Kiss. Lelik caught, rose, and made them pay without needing a circus dribble. A 40-year wait ended on one guard willing to punish the help Japan kept sending at the towers.
Photo: FIBA. Reka Lelik, Hungary, Qualification to Quarter-Finals vs Japan, Berlin Arena, Sep 8, 2026. Official FIBA still. Landscape. Never stack with the headshot.
Sources
- ESPN box score Hungary 84-63 Japan — final 84-63; quarters; Lelik 23/8/4; team FG/3PT; Machida 12 AST
- FIBA: Lelik decisive for qualification — TCL POTG; first top eight since 1986; efficiency 32; QF vs USA
- FIBA game page
- FIBA QF Preview — first USA-Hungary WC meeting since 1986
- Photos: WNBA.com Juhasz 1641657; FIBA Lelik featured still
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