SYDNEY (AP) — The names at the U.S. crew have modified, the Americans’ dominance has now not.
A’ja Wilson scored 19 issues, Kelsey Plum added 17 and the United States beat China 83-61 on Saturday to win its fourth consecutive gold medal on the women’s basketball World Cup.
“It feels great,” mentioned Wilson, who used to be decided on because the event’s MVP. “We came here on a mission, we got it. We got gold. Now we’re going home with some hardware. It feels great to us. Australia was great to us. I didn’t see any kangaroos, but it’s OK because we are leaving with a gold.”
This used to be probably the most dominant groups within the Americans’ storied historical past within the World Cup that now has gained 11 gold medals. They’ve gained 4 straight gold medals for the primary time. This additionally used to be the largest win in a gold-medal sport, surpassing the 20-point wins that the Americans had executed two times.
“Everybody wants to beat us. Everybody wants what we have and that’s gold medals and victories,” Breanna Stewart mentioned.
What began with Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi has now been handed all the way down to Wilson and Stewart. With Alyssa Thomas the oldest participant at 30, the domination may just proceed for years yet to come.
“It’s been an incredible journey just to continue to lay that foundation down like so many of the greats in front of us have,” Wilson mentioned. “Now it’s our turn to step up and be in that situation.”
Host Australia defeated Canada 95-65 to win the bronze medal, led through 41-year-old Lauren Jackson’s 30 issues.
As they’ve executed all event, the Americans did it on each ends of the courtroom, taking part in stellar protection in addition to the usage of a high-powered offense.
The U.S. (8-0) completed the World Cup averaging 98.8 issues — simply in need of the mark held through the 1994 crew that averaged 99.1. They gained through a median of 40.8 issues, topping the mark held through the 2010 crew.
The sport used to be a sellout with just about 16,000 fanatics — the largest crowd to wait a women’s World Cup sport for the reason that inaugural event in 1953 in Chile.
Led through Li Yueru and Wu Tongtong, China hung round. The Chinese crew trailed 33-28 overdue in the second one quarter prior to the U.S. went on a 10-2 run highlighted through fast-break layups through Stewart and Wilson to increase the benefit to double-digits.
Jin Weina hit a 3-pointer simply prior to the halftime buzzer to get China again to inside of 10.
The U.S. used to be simply too excellent to let the disenchanted occur, outscoring China 25-14 within the 3rd. The Americans did have one frightening second when Thomas went down after a collision with Li within the lane. She used to be helped off the courtroom, however returned a couple of mins later.
“It was a tough game as we expected,” Thomas mentioned. “By no means is this game easy. We stuck to it and pulled out a win.”
China gained its first medal for the reason that 1994 World Cup when the crew additionally took the silver and are a emerging energy in women’s basketball. After the sport, the crew posed for a photograph with their flag and males’s nice Yao Ming, who’s the president of the Chinese Basketball Association.
Li completed with 19 issues and Wu added 13 prior to leaving the sport within the fourth quarter after her knee gave out riding to the basket. She needed to be carried off the courtroom.
The victory used to be the thirtieth in a row in World Cup play for the Americans, who haven’t misplaced for the reason that 2006 semifinals in opposition to Russia. The Soviet Union holds the World Cup document with 56 straight wins from 1959-86. This is most effective the second one time within the Americans’ storied historical past they’ve reached 4 consecutive gold medal contests. They additionally did it from 1979-90, successful thrice.
This U.S. crew, which has such a lot of new faces, persevered to dominate the paint even with out 6-foot-8 Brittney Griner, outscoring its warring parties through a median of 55-24.
The groups met in pool play and China gave the U.S. its hardest sport, shedding through 14 issues.