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Key events
Dominating a sport isn’t necessarily good for the long-term health of said sport. Just ask softball organizers who’ve struggled to make the game an Olympic mainstay while only a couple of teams show any capacity to win. The US women’s soccer team is no longer a prohibitive favorite in any given competition, but that’s a sign that the sport has truly gone global.
This World Cup showed that the mighty US players are vulnerable. Italy was a bit unlucky not to take the massive upset in group play. France had the final in hand in the second quarter.
So will the next generation – Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers and company – be able to continue the USA’s lengthy reign? It’s not a given. The team will surely be favored in the next Olympics and World Cup, but France is one of several European teams that will make them earn it.
Enjoy the rest of your busy sports weekend, and thanks for following along with us today. You can read a full report from today’s game here:
Final stats
US scorers: Stewart 22, Young 18, Copper 15, Gray 12, Clark 12. Gray and Young also had five assists each.
France scorers: Malonga 21, Williams 20, Ayayi 8. Williams had seven assists.
The USA dominated on the glass, 36-27. Stewart nearly posted a double-double, finishing with nine rebounds.
Clark had four turnovers and a technical foul, but she hit four of five shots, including two of her three attempts from behind the arc.
US women win fifth straight World Cup, 97-79
Would anyone have guessed that a group-stage game against Italy would end up as a much more difficult encounter for this team than a final against France? Certainly not in the first half, when France took a double-digit lead and looked fantastic in doing so.
But the shots stopped falling for France, and the US veterans just made smart plays. No sense of panic. Nothing explosive. Just an efficient rally to keep all the USA’s big win streaks intact.
USA 97-79 France, 0:30 left: Reese misses two free throws.
Will we see 100? Copper scores to make it 97. Williams hits one of two free throws.
Howard puts up a three as the shot clock runs down … will it be 100? Not yet.
USA 95-78 France, 1:45 left: Two free throws from Johannes cut the deficit to 14, but Copper answers with a three-pointer.
Malonga gets a nice ovation as she leaves. Stewart hits two free throws. Williams’ second half of misery continues with a turnover on a wild drive.
Stewart finds Reese for a basket, and the lead is 20.
Williams at least finds the net with a three-pointer.
And finally, Lawson clears the bench. Citron and Iriafen are in, along with Clark. Out: Stewart, Gray, Young. What a game for that trio.
USA 88-72 France, 2:38 left: Copper with a putback to restore the 20-point advantage.
Malonga again with the bucket.
And again with the bucket! That’s a 13-2 run, and I think it’s been all Malonga.
The US starting five is still out there for reasons known only to Kara Lawson and company. Their plus/minus numbers are plummeting.
USA 86-68 France, 3:51 left: Malonga will end with good numbers, at least. She gets a rebound, bangs into Collier, scores, gets the call, hits a free throw.
USA 86-64 France, 5:00 left: Malonga hits a three from the corner. Malonga scores again, and we have a timeout. Too little too late. No one’s coming back from 27 points down in the fourth quarter of a World Cup final.
Clark goes out, replaced by … Gray? Are we not going to see any more of Bueckers today? Or Citron or Iriafen?
USA 86-59 France, 6:05 left: After a France timeout, Clark hits the second of two free throws.
Reese with a block. Clark drives and scores. She has 12 in 10 minutes and change.
USA 82-59 France, 6:52 left: Fast break – Young misses, but Stewart is there to snare the rebound and put it back.
US playing time so far: Copper, Gray, Stewart, Collier, Young all well more than 20 minutes. Boston more than 14 minutes. Howard more than 13. Clark more than 9, Reese more than 5, Bueckers about 2 and a half. Citron and Iriafen haven’t played.
USA 78-59 France, 7:45 left: Badiane scores. When did Williams last touch the ball? Quick check – missed a free throw on the Clark technical, followed with a turnover.
Collier takes the lead back to 19.
If you’re Kara Lawson, when do you clear the bench?
USA 76-57 France, 9:05 left: Clark gets called for a foul, argues, and gets a technical. It’s officially like a WNBA game now.
The US challenge the next possession call more formally, sending the officials to the replay monitor, and it’s quite clearly the USA’s ball.
Clark with a quick-release three. She hasn’t been an impactful as Gray, Young and Stewart, but she’s had her moments.
This game was once 31-17 France. With seconds to go in the first half, it was 45-40 France. This quarter was horrific for the team in blue.
End 3rd quarter: USA 73-57 France
A lifeline from Toure with a three, but then Clark keeps the ball at the other ends and calmly hits a fadeaway.
USA 71-54 France, 0:40 left, 3rd qtr: Copper hits three of four. The US also get the ball.
The wheels have come off for France.
Off the restart, Clark feeds it inside to her Indiana teammate Boston, who takes the lead to 17.
Officials are checking for an “act of violence” on a Johannes foul against Copper. It was a good hard whack with her hand as Copper glided past her. The officials say it meets the criteria for an act of violence, and we’ll resume with four free throws.
USA 66-54 France, 0:54 left, 3rd qtr: Clark re-enters for Gray.
Copper drives, gets stopped, regains the ball and scores to stake the lead to nine.
Malonga hits one of two free throws.
Collier hits a pullup jumper, and the lead is 10.
Howard steals, drives against Malonga, and the lead is 12.
USA 60-53 France, 2:03 left, 3rd qtr: Boston gets overeager and travels.
Johannes has gone cold, though that wasn’t an easy shot. Gray compounds her problems by driving hard against the French defender to draw a foul. It’s a non-shooting foul, so the US will inbound. Gray hits another fadeaway. Never mind that bit about her being “cold.”
USA 58-53 France, 3:06 left, 3rd qtr: Sweet back-and-forth between Williams and Malonga, cutting the lead to four.
Never mind – Young hits from three off an assist from Gray.
Malonga scores again after Gray somehow got stuck with an impossible defensive assignment.
Gray and Young miss on the same possession, which is statistically improbable given how they’ve played today (though Gray has cooled since her hot start).
Williams gets a rest.
USA 55-49 France, 5:13 left, 3rd qtr: Ayayi makes a difficult scoop shot inside.
Gray is left wide open in the corner, and France must be relieved to see her miss. But Stewart claims the rebound and is fouled.
Something I noticed on the boxscore – one of the US assistant coaches is Natalie Nakase, who coaches Williams and Salaun with the Golden State Valkyries.
USA 54-47 France, 6:29 left, 3rd qtr: The Fiba site claims Salaun just cut the lead to three. In the real world, Young just extended the US lead to seven, and France will take a timeout after a disastrous start to the second half.
USA 52-47 France, 7:07 left, 3rd qtr: Collier sticks the ball through a scramble and gives the US their first lead in eons.
France miss some open looks. US offense rushes into an ill-advised shot – second time I can remember seeing that.
Ayayi ties it. The Fiba site now claims France have two fewer points than they have.
Young bricks a three. Collier keeps it alive, and the US work it to Copper for three.
USA 45-45 France, 9;40 left, 3rd qtr: Stewart ties the game on the first possession of the second half.
Fiba’s site has rebounded (sorry) and now shows us updated stats, including plus/minus. For the USA: Howard is -10, Collier -8, Clark -7 … Gray and Young +8 each. For France: Badiane is -9, Williams a surprising -5. Malonga is +6.
Stats
Shooting percentages are high: USA 55, France 52. From three-point range: France is 8-of-14, USA 4-of-8.
Rebounds: USA 15 (Stewart 6), France 12
Scoring leaders: Young 13, Stewart 12, Gray 10 for the US. Williams 16, Salaun 7 for France.
Young also has four assists. Gray has three. Williams leads France with three.
Halftime: USA 43-45 France
Boston hits one of two free throws. France runs the shot clock down to try to limit the time the US would have, but Astier ends up in a matchup against Reese, and that will never favor the French.
Hey! Remember Caitlin Clark? Her first shot of the game is a corner three at the halftime buzzer, and it’s good. (Correction: Apparently her second? Fiba’s site is having issues, though, so I can’t verify that right now.)
We’ve got ourselves a game.
USA 39-45 France, 0:31 left, 2nd qtr: Williams gets a steal. Solaun tries an ambitious step-back jumper and draws a foul from Copper, who can really do better than that. Solaun hits one of two.
Gray hits a shot that no mere mortal should be able to hit as the shot clock runs down.
Williams misses, and the US can tie. Gray gives it a shot but misses. She only makes the impossible shots.
Solaun hits from the corner.
USA 37-41 France, 2:08 left, 2nd qtr: Boston is the first newbie to make an impact here for the US, deflecting a Johannes three-pointer and scoring in transition.
Williams quickly gets inside to score on a nifty reverse layup.
Young hits a line-drive three-pointer, and the lead is three.
Gray feeds Boston, who was being held and draws a foul.
First, we have a review of the Young three-pointer. It’s just two. Young’s foot was clearly on the line. Williams, who had a foot on the line on the shot that could’ve tied the Olympic final, must be wincing at that one a little.
USA 33-39 France, 3:41 left, 2nd qtr: Can you guess who hits a three right out of the timeout for France? Yes, it’s Williams.
Young hits a layup the other way.
Good defense from the US, but Williams draws a non-shooting foul to gain more time on the shot clock. They miss, but Stewart puts up an airball layup. Foul in the mix somewhere, and Stewart gets free throws. She makes both, and the lead is five.
Johannes eyes up a three but instead dishes to Badiane in the corner, and the center hits it.
Copper tries to force things for the US, but Gray, who is having a marvelous first half, grabs the rebound and draws the foul. Both free throws good.
USA 27-33 France, 5:39 left, 2nd qtr: Williams drives and draws a foul. She hits both free throws, but Gray throws a brilliant no-look assist through traffic to find Young in the corner, and her three-pointer beats the shot clock.
Johannes misses a three, Young takes the ball in transition and feeds Stewart. The lead has been rapidly whacked to six, and France will take a timeout.
USA 22-31 France, 6:54 left, 2nd qtr: Vets replace newbies – Gray and Young in, Clark and Howard out. Badiane replaces Malonga.
Copper drives and trips. Another US turnover.
Was Malonga born when the US women last lost a World Cup or Olympic game? I’ll have to check.
Williams drains a three-pointer, and the lead is 14.
Finally, Young stops the bleeding for the US with a three-pointer that falls just as Toure fouls Stewart elsewhere, giving the US a chance to make this a five- or six-point possession. Stewart makes it five.
USA 17-28 France, 8:14 left, 2nd qtr: Stewart puts up some ill-considered shots. Ayayi hits a three, and the lead is nine.
Howard bricks a shot off the backboard. Leite hits a jumper.
The lead is double digits, and US coach Kara Lawson (mandatory shoutout to Duke, where she coaches the women’s team) calls timeout.
USA 17-23 France, 9:00 left, 2nd qtr: Reese fouls Leite on a three-point attempt, and the French guard hits all three free throws to put France up by six.
Stewart back in for the USA, but Williams has come back for France.
Edwin Horsley writes: “Thank you, Beau, for writing an actual “fair and balanced” piece about Caitlin Clark’s play - thus far- during this FIBA tournament. Perhaps she will have a really good “Caitlin Clark” game today, so her fans can once again engage in delusional praise.”
I think Clark is the most exciting player I’ve ever seen in women’s basketball. Her court vision is second to none. She makes passes most players would never imagine. When her shot is falling, she’s great. But day-in, day-out against the world’s best players, that happens less frequently than a lot of her fawning admirers care to admit.
End 1st qtr: USA 17-20 France
Aside to sports commentators – when players are wildly contesting for the ball on the ground, it’s not accurate to say it’s a “scrum.” If anything, it’s a “ruck.” A scrum is organized. What just happened was not, and France got the best of it.
Malonga makes two free throws.
Clark’s first contribution to the game is a turnover on a bad entry pass.
Clark’s second contribution to the game is a turnover as she steps on the baseline. On each turnover, she just held the ball way too long and dribbled into trouble.
USA 17-18 France, 1:25 left, 1st qtr: Reese battles inside against the tallest player in this game, Malonga, and earns a pair of free throws but misses both badly.
USA 17-18 France, 1:30 left, 1st qtr: Angel Reese rotates in for the US.
Wide-open three-point attempt for Ayayi looks bad enough that the US will probably let her keep taking those fore a while.
USA 17-18 France, 2:37 left, 1st qtr: Williams puts up a three that hits the back rim and drops straight down through the net.
A bit of sloppiness at each end, and France find Malonga alone under the basket to tie it.
Boston works inside for her first hoop of the game. Johannes launches from long range to give France the lead.
Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers are in; Gabby Williams is out.
USA 15-10 France, 4:35 left, 1st qtr: Williams drives and draws a foul on Gray. She misses the first, makes the second.
Boston is in for the US; Johannes enters for France.
Gray hits a fallaway jumper nearly identical to her first.
Another miss for France. They bounce back with a good defensive sequence, forcing the US to inbounds the ball with three seconds on the shot clock, but Gray finds Stewart for the jumper. The two veterans have been dominant so far.
Howard enters for the US and immediately strips the ball from Johannes, triggering a break that Gray finishes neatly. Five-point lead.
USA 9-9 France, 6:46 left, 1st qtr: All layups for France thus far. Badiane this time.
Gray calmly hits a jumper just beyond the free throw line. Ayayi turns it over, and Stewart ties it.
Williams misses, and Young hits the first 3 of the game.
Better start for the US than in some games in this Cup.
Salaun answers from 3.
USA 2-4 France, 8:20 left, 1st qtr: Stewart hits two free throws and passes Cheryl Miller to become the fifth-leading scorer in US history.
Williams smoothly drives the lane to tie.
Miss for the US, Lacan finds a wide-open path to the hoop and converts. Basketball refs don’t use the “advantage” principle, but Lacan benefited when the refs didn’t whistle a foul by a US defender on Williams.
Tipoff
Copper, Gray, Stewart, Collier and Young start for the USA.
Ayayi, Salaun, Williams, Badiane and Lacan for France.
The referees are Julio Anaya (Panama), Ariadna Chueca (Spain) and Gatis Salins (Latvia).
Away we go …
France team
Born in Nevada. Excelled at Connecticut and was picked fourth overall in the 2018 WNBA Draft. Joined Golden State this year and has averaged a career-high 14.3 points. Gabby Williams is a typical US women’s basketball success story. She just happens to play for a different national team.
And she plays very well. She had 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals in the taut Olympic final in 2024. If her foot had been a few inches back when she released her last-second shot, that game would’ve gone to overtime.
This year, she’s averaging 18.4 points per game thanks to torrid shooting – 56.9% from the field, 48.4% from behind the arc, 91.7% on free throws.
Her teammate with the Valkyries, Janelle Salaun, is the second-leading scorer for Golden State and third on the French team behind Williams and Marine Johannes of the New York Liberty. Dominique Malonga, a 20-year-old center who plays for Seattle, is averaging 10 points per game and leads the team inside with 6.6 rebounds and one block per game.
Eight French players are in the WNBA. Only one, Romane Bernies, plays in France.
US team
Hey, isn’t Caitlin Clark on this team?
Yes. And we can definitively declare that her play has been ... fine?
She’s averaging 20.6 minutes per game, third behind Jackie Young and Breanna Stewart, but she’s averaging just 7 points. The percentages are gruesome – 29.4% from the field, 22.7% from 3-point range and just two of three from the free throw line.
Now the good news: She leads the team in plus/minus (22), she’s the runaway leader in assists (5.8 per game), and she’s doing that with far fewer turnovers (1.2 per game) than she typical puts up in WNBA play.
Late in the game, though, the team has looked elsewhere. Kahleah Copper replaced Clark with 5:33 left in the semifinal, though Spain never got closer than eight points after that. Against Italy, with the game very much in doubt, Clark sat for the last 7:05. (Going 0-for-6 from the field didn’t help her case for playing time.)
So who IS getting it done for the US team?
Basically, everyone.
If you’re voting today, the MVP is Stewart. She leads the team with 6.8 rebounds per game and is barely behind Young (11.2 to 11.0) in points. Stewart and Young are two of just five players who were on the 2024 Olympic roster, align with ever-reliable point guard Chelsea Gray and two veteran glue players in Napheesa Collier and Kahleah Copper. All five are contributing, unlike the 2024 Olympics, when Diana Taurasi was basically a passenger taking a career victory lap.
The least-used players this year are two newcomers, the Washington Mystics duo of Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, both of whom are contributing and gaining experience. Rhyne Howard is a newbie with asterisk, having won Olympic bronze in 3x3 basketball. Then the team has what may be a golden generation in the making – Clark, Angel Reese, Aliyah Boston and Paige Bueckers.
On TNT’s coverage, the studio crew and several players mused aloud about who would take a last-second shot for the team. The slim consensus went to Stewart, closely followed by Gray. But the panels agree – it could be anyone on the roster.
Preamble: A golden rematch
The most-anticipated rematch since Rocky Balboa faced Apollo Creed for the second time is about to go down in Berlin.
This US women’s basketball team’s success has long been taken for granted. Since the Olympic boycott in 1980, we can literally count the team’s losses in World Cup and Olympic championships on one hand, and two of those were in the team’s silver medal campaign in the 1983 World Cup. They lost in the semifinals of the 1992 Olympics to their traditional rival Unified Team, then in the semifinals of the 1994 World Cup to Brazil. Since then, they’ve gone 121-1, with the sole blemish being the 2006 World Cup semifinal against Russia. At the game’s top levels, they’ve won 71 straight.
If you like, you can throw in the Goodwill Games, held in 1986, 1990 and 1994. US record: 14-0.
But in the last two competitions, they’ve dealt with two of the closest games in their history.
Two years ago in the Olympic final, the US trailed France by as many as 10 points in the third quarter before A’ja Wilson put the team on her back. The game ended with France’s Gabby Williams hitting a last-second shot that seemed to have tied the game until we all saw the replay showing her foot on the 3-point arc. France needed three and got two. Game over.
The Guardian’s MBM commentator for that game was clearly out of breath by the end, but I’ve recovered.
This year, Wilson isn’t around to get the team through clutch time. That may explain why the US struggled against a good-but-not-great Italy team in the group stage, giving up a 15-point lead and trading the lead back and forth. The defense held Italy to four points in the final five minutes to hang on for a 55-52 win.
The US looked vulnerable again in yesterday’s semifinal. Spain led 16-9 and was tied 56-56 late in the third quarter, but the defense again clamped down.
Vivement la revanche.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how the US got on in the semi-final:
Breanna Stewart scored 16 points and Kahleah Copper added 13 for the four-time defending champions, who were tied at 58 entering the fourth quarter before finally taking control. Jackie Young added 12 points.
“I think it’s two great teams going to go head-to-head,” Copper said. “You know I’m excited for the matchup. I’m excited for us to be able to compete.”
Spain led 13-4 midway through the first quarter and trailed only 39-36 at halftime. María Conde and Iyana Martín hit three-pointers early in the third as Spain erased the deficit, while Martín’s two free throws with 53 seconds left sent the game into the fourth tied at 58.
Copper and Young scored to open the fourth before Stewart helped the US create separation. The Americans stretched their lead to eight with just over six minutes remaining before Young’s steal and layup made it 76-64 with 1:42 left.
Conde and Martín scored 17 points apiece for Spain, who held the Americans to 40% shooting. The US made only three of 18 three-point attempts, while Caitlin Clark finished with one point and missed all three of her shots from beyond the arc.
You can read the full report below:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/sep/12/usa-spain-womens-basketball-world-cup-semi-final
