The United States won a fifth consecutive Women’s Basketball World Cup on Sunday, but only after France had spent a half making the Berlin Arena believe otherwise. Trailing 31-17 early in the second quarter and losing the three-point line to a French side shooting 8 of 14 from range, the Americans responded with a 30-12 third quarter that turned a two-point half-time deficit into a rout and a 97-79 win.
Breanna Stewart finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists and was named tournament MVP for the second time. Jackie Young took the player-of-the-game award with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists, Kahleah Copper added 15, and Caitlin Clark scored 12 off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting. Dominique Malonga led France with 21 points and six rebounds and Gabby Williams had 20 points and seven assists — 16 of them before the interval, four after.
Twelve minutes that settled it
France had earned the lead. Williams was unguardable in the first half, Malonga punished the American interior, and Jean-Aimé Toupane’s side led 45-43 at the break having beaten the United States at the very thing the Americans usually win: pace and shot quality in transition.
The second half was a different game entirely. Kara Lawson’s team pressured the ball higher, forced France into late-clock possessions and cut off the passing lanes that had produced those first-half threes. France managed 3 of 10 from beyond the arc after half-time and scored 12 points in the third quarter — the fewest by any team in a quarter of this final round. The United States shot 56% from the field overall and 62.2% from three.
Stewart said Lawson had called the shape of the night in advance, if not the timing. The coach’s forecast was that France would stay attached for three quarters before the Americans pulled clear in the fourth; it simply arrived a period early.
- Quarter scores — USA: 17, 26, 30, 24. France: 20, 25, 12, 22.
- USA shooting: 56% field goals, 62.2% from three.
- Clark led the entire tournament with 32 assists.
- Spain beat hosts Germany in the bronze-medal game.
A streak that now spans two decades
This was a 12th World Cup gold for the United States and a 13th appearance in the final — they have lost the gold-medal game once, in 1983. The win extended their World Cup winning run to 36 matches, stretching back to the 2006 semi-final defeat by Russia, a streak that has now outlasted three Olympic cycles and most of the careers that began it.
What makes the fifth title different from the fourth is the personnel. Seven of the 12 players in Berlin were competing in their first major senior five-on-five tournament, among them four recent WNBA Rookies of the Year: Clark, Aliyah Boston, Rhyne Howard and Paige Bueckers. The 2022 team in Sydney leaned on established Olympians; this one leaned on Stewart and a supporting cast still learning the demands of FIBA basketball, where the lane is shorter, the officiating harsher on contact and the possessions fewer.
Lawson was unambiguous about who held it together. “She is USA Basketball,” she said of Stewart. “We’re lucky to be part of her era.” Clark’s assessment was shorter: “She’s a winner. All she ever does is win.”
France’s near-miss and the road to Los Angeles
France reached a World Cup final for the first time and, for 20 minutes, looked capable of finishing the job they left undone at Paris 2024, where they lost the Olympic final by a single point. Malonga, still early in her professional career, was the tournament’s most compelling young post player, and Williams remains one of the few guards in the world who can genuinely trouble American ball-handlers. Losing by 18 flatters the United States more than the contest deserved.
For France, the question is depth. When Williams’ shooting cooled, the bench produced little, and a roster that competes with the Americans for a half cannot yet do it for four quarters. That is a solvable problem with two years of continuity.
Those two years point to Los Angeles in 2028, where the United States will chase a ninth straight Olympic gold on home floor. The core that won in Berlin — Stewart at 32, Young entering her prime, Clark and Bueckers still ascending — is the likely starting point. The margin of American dominance narrowed again in the first half here. It has not yet narrowed enough.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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