Team USA players 'honor' teammate Brittney Griner at FIBA Women's World Cup

By Alasdair Howorth, CNN

Updated 1139 GMT (1939 HKT) September 22, 2022

Team USA are looking to win a fourth consecutive World Cup.

(CNN)Team USA's 87-72 opening game victory over Belgium at the Women's Basketball World Cup was overshadowed by the absence of forward Brittney Griner, who has been sentenced to nine years in Russian jail for possessing cannabis oil.

The USA's players honored their friend and teammate by electing to not wear her No. 15 shirt. Traditionally, Team USA wears the numbers four to 15 but instead is remembering a player who has been such a big part of the national side since her first involvement in 2013.«She's on our minds daily, and we'll honor her,» US head coach Cheryl Reeve told ESPN. «No one will wear 15. So just finding ways to continue to make sure she knows that she's being thought of and our players are thinking of her daily.»Griner has been central to the US team's dominance in the sport. The 2013 WNBA No. 1 draft pick has helped the US win two Olympic gold medals and two gold medals at the World Cup. Griner has been in Russian jail since she was detained in February.«She's a big part of our sisterhood,» Griner's Olympic teammate Jewell Lloyd said. «Getting to know her over the past couple years has been great. She has been nothing but amazing to me and my family. And it's just heart-breaking to know that she's still over there and she's not here.»Read MoreThe tournament start comes a week after Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner, met with US President Joe Biden to plead her wife's case as the US negotiates the release of the WNBA star and former US Marine Paul Whelan.Griner was detained in February for carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage and pleaded guilty to drug