2026 World Cup: Julie Allemand's All-Around Game Guides Belgium Past Puerto Rico, 76-64

Belgium controlled the game from tip to buzzer, beating Puerto Rico 76-64 in Group Phase play at the FIBA Women's World Cup on Sunday at Berlin Arena, leading for more than 38 of the 40 minutes. Belgium moved ahead in the opening quarter and carried a 40-32 lead into halftime, and Puerto Rico never got closer than four points the rest of the way.
Belgium's biggest push came late in the first quarter, an unanswered 7-0 run over less than two minutes that stretched an 11-13 deficit into a 20-11 lead, with Maxuella Lisowa-Mbaka (178-F-2001) scoring 5 of those points on perfect shooting. Puerto Rico answered with its own surge spanning the end of the second quarter and the start of the third, an 8-0 run led by McGee-Stafford Imani (201-C-1994, college: Texas) that cut the gap to 40-36, but Belgium held firm and eventually built its largest lead of the night, 14 points, with under five minutes to play before closing out the 12-point win.
Julie Allemand (173-PG-1996, agency: LBM Management) ran the show for Belgium with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists without committing a single foul in just over 35 minutes, hitting 3 of 7 from three-point range for a team-best plus-10. Lisowa-Mbaka provided a spark off the bench with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting and a perfect 4 of 4 from the line, all without a turnover, while Julie Vanloo (173-PG-1993) added 15 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, and Kyara Linskens (193-C-1996, agency: LBM Management) chipped in 12. Puerto Rico's McGee-Stafford Imani was the best player on the floor for either team, finishing with 25 points and 13 rebounds on an efficient 9-of-14 shooting, but she had too little support to keep Puerto Rico competitive.