Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
The US women are in a familiar spot — playing for another FIBA World Cup championship.
Getting to a fifth consecutive title game was a little harder than the previous few, as they beat Spain 76-66 on Saturday (Sunday AEST) in the semi-finals. The Americans had averaged winning the previous four semis by 26 points, including a 40-point rout of Canada in 2022.
The Americans will face France in a rematch of the 2024 Paris Olympic gold-medal game that the US won by a point.
“I think it’s two great teams going to go head-to-head,” said Kahleah Copper, who had 13 points in the win against Spain.
“You know I’m excited for the matchup. I’m excited for us to be able to compete.”
The US have won 35 straight games in the World Cup going back to a loss to Russia in the 2006 semis. Now the Americans are one win away from a fifth consecutive tournament title that would match the former Soviet Union for the most consecutive championships.
The game was tied at 58 to start the fourth quarter before the US scored 12 of the first 14 points to take a 70-60 lead — their biggest of the game with 5:20 left. Spain could only get within eight the rest of the way.
Les Bleus await in the decider after star Gabby Williams led her team with 22 points, five rebounds, four assists and five steals in an 86-64 win over hosts Germany.
France had never played a women’s World Cup semi-final before so Sunday’s final will also be the country’s first.
“I’m proud of the fight in this group, the determination, the encouragement during the matches and simply their effort,” Williams said.
“We were up against a good team tonight. We’ve had matches that were a bit easier so to speak, but I’m glad we didn’t panic just because we didn’t win by 20 points right away.”
Janelle Salaun, who had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds against Germany, said the 2024 Olympic final was in the past and would have no bearing on the Berlin decider.
“That was two years ago,” she said of the Paris loss.
“There were different people involved, different players, so now we’re focusing on tomorrow and the here and now.”
