SYDNEY (AP) — The names at the U.S. workforce have modified, the Americans’ dominance has no longer.
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 at the women’s basketball World Cup.
This used to be one of the vital dominant groups within the Americans’ storied historical past within the World Cup that now has received 11 gold medals. They now have received 4 straight gold medals for the first-time ever. This used to be additionally the largest win in a gold-medal recreation, surpassing the 20-point wins that the Americans had executed two times.
“It feels great,” mentioned Wilson, who used to be decided on because the match’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.”
What began with Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi has now been handed right down to Wilson and Breanna Stewart. With Alyssa Thomas the oldest participant at 30, the domination may just proceed for future years.
As they have got executed all match, the Americans did it on each ends of the court docket, enjoying stellar protection in addition to the use of a high-powered offense.
The U.S. (8-0) completed the World Cup averaging 98.8 issues — simply wanting the mark held by way of the 1994 workforce that averaged 99.1. They received by way of a mean of 40.8 issues, topping the mark held by way of the 2010 workforce.
The recreation used to be a sellout with just about 16,000 fanatics — the largest crowd to wait a women’s World Cup recreation for the reason that inaugural match in 1953 in Chile.
Led by way of Li Yueru and Wu Tongtong, China hung round. The Chinese workforce trailed 33-28 past due in the second one quarter earlier than the U.S. went on a 10-2 run highlighted by way of fast-break layups by way of Stewart and Wilson to increase the merit to double-digits.
Jin Weina hit a 3-pointer simply earlier than the halftime buzzer to get China again to inside of 10.
The U.S. used to be simply too just right to let the disillusioned occur, outscoring China 25-14 within the 3rd. The Americans did have one horrifying second when Thomas went down after a collision with Li within the lane. She used to be helped off the court docket, 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 received its first medal for the reason that 1994 World Cup when the workforce additionally took the silver and are a emerging energy in women’s basketball. After the sport, the workforce 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 earlier than leaving the sport within the fourth quarter after her knee gave out riding to the basket. She needed to be carried off the court docket.
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 simplest 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, profitable 3 times.
This U.S. workforce, which has such a lot of new faces on it, additionally endured to dominate the paint even with out 6-foot-8 Brittney Griner, outscoring its combatants by way of a mean of 55-24.
These two groups met in pool play and China gave the U.S. its hardest recreation, dropping by way of 14 issues.
WOMEN’S WORLD
FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis used to be happy that part of the officers within the match have been feminine and 5 of the 12 head coaches have been women. Both China and the U.S. had women in control of their groups, marking the second one straight time that two feminine coaches made it to the gold medal recreation.
MISSING IN ACTION
The U.S. used to be with out Kahleah Copper for the second one straight recreation after injuring her left hip within the win over Serbia within the quarterfinals. Copper landed laborious on her hip riding to the basket and needed to be helped off the court docket. China used to be lacking its superstar guard Li Meng, who sat out a 2nd consecutive recreation with what Chinese media reported as having a fever because of frame fatigue.
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