Fire Alarm at 2 a.m. Disrupts Teams at FIBA Women's World Cup, Was USA Impacted Ahead of Italy Game?

Some players competing at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup were awakened at 2 a.m. after a fire alarm went off in their hotel, according to the Associated Press' Doug Feinberg.

The hotel isn't housing everybody who made the trip to Berlin for the tournament. The United States was among the teams staying elsewhere, so it didn't have any disruptions prior to its matchup with Italy.

"That's a what-if situation, isn't it?" Australia coach Sandy Brondello said, per Feinberg. "Now we have that in our toolbox. Never done that before."

The Opals shook off the effects from their unexpected wake-up and cruised past Türkiye 87-71 in Sunday's first game.

Türkiye came in as the underdog against the 2022 bronze medalists. The fire alarm provided a setback the coaches and players will have wanted to avoid.

Coach Andrea Masson said his squad "had a really bad night last night." He said the team got around three hours of sleep before getting to work and preparing for Sunday's contest.