USA won record 12th women basketball World Cup. The team earned the gold medal at the world championship once again during the last game of the tournament held in Berlin. The American players beat France with a final score of 97 to 79. The quarter scores were 17 to 20, 26 to 25, 30 to 12, and 24 to 22. This win gave the team their fifth world championship in a row and proved that they are still the best team in the world. The last time the Americans failed to take home the gold medal was all the way back in 2006, when Australia beat Russia in the final match.
Even though the final score showed a big gap between the two sides, the American team had to work very hard to get this win. When the first half ended, the United States were behind by two points with the score sitting at 43 to 45. Earlier in the second quarter, France played great basketball and even built a big lead of fourteen points when the score stood at 31 to 17.
Everything changed after the break because the American squad came back onto the court with a completely different energy and shut down the French attack. During the third quarter by itself, the champions scored 30 points while letting France score only 12 points. By the fourth quarter, the lead grew even bigger until it reached 27 points at 86 to 59. France only managed to score a few more baskets and close the gap a bit during the last five minutes of the contest when the outcome was already clear.
On the winning team, Breanna Stewart was the best player on the floor, finishing the game with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Jackie Young also helped the team a lot by adding 18 points, while Kahleah Copper scored 15 points of her own to secure the victory.
The French team had to accept second place again, which is their second straight final loss to the Americans after their game at the Paris Summer Games. Dominique Malonga led her team with 21 points, and Gabby Williams played well to get 20 points, but no other player on the French roster could score more than eight points.
In the match to decide third place, Spain took down the host team Germany with a clear score of 81 to 58. The quarters ended 25 to 15, 15 to 21, 21 to 15, and 20 to 7. This win gave the Spanish team their fourth medal over the past five world tournaments, and they earned it with a great second half where they outscored Germany 41 to 22. For the German team, reaching the final four was still a major success because they had never finished this high at a world tournament before.
This victory extends the extraordinary dynasty of the United States women’s basketball program, pushing their active World Cup winning streak well past 30 games. Under intense pressure, the team once again demonstrated their trademark depth and conditioning, using a suffocating full-court defensive scheme in the third quarter to force turnovers and trigger fast-break points against a tiring French backcourt.
For France, the result confirms their status as the clear number two power in international women’s basketball, yet it also exposes their reliance on core offensive contributors. While Dominique Malonga and Gabby Williams consistently created scoring opportunities off isolation and mid-range jumpers, the lack of secondary scoring from the perimeter allowed the American defense to collapse the paint and take control of the tempo down the stretch.
