US women back in FIBA World Cup final after gritty 76-66 win over Spain

BERLIN (AP) — The U.S. women are in a familiar spot — playing for another FIBA World Cup championship.

Getting to a fifth consecutive title game was a little harder then the previous few as they beat Spain 76-66 on Saturday in the semifinals. The Americans had averaged winning the previous four semifinals 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 U.S. 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 U.S. has won 35 straight games in the World Cup going back to a loss to Russia in the semifinals in 2006. 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.

After cruising through their past two games, the U.S. struggled against Spain as the Americans couldn’t get any flow on offense for much of the contest.

The game was tied at 58 to start the fourth quarter before the Americans 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.

“That was important,” Copper said about the start of the fourth quarter. “I think we wanted to make plays down the stretch. We needed to get stops. We were scoring, but we weren’t getting the stops. So, I think in that moment, we were getting the stops and we were also scoring, which gave us the separation.”

U.S. coach Kara Lawson was happy with the defense in the fourth quarter when the team held Spain to only eight points.

“I thought defensively, it was the best we had played, from guarding the ball to guarding the ball screen to boxing out and limiting to one shot,” Lawson said. “Every phase of defense, we were precise and we were locked in, so when we get all that going together, we feel like we can create some separation.”

The first half was a struggle offensively as Spain was constantly fouling, which didn't let the Americans get into any sort of rhythm. The U.S. took 27 free throws in the opening half and ended up 27 of 35 for the game from the foul line.

To Aliyah Boston, who was playing in the World Cup for the first time, the game had an NCAA Final Four feel to it.

“When you’re in a tournament like this, it doesn’t always have to be pretty. You just have to come out with the win,” she said. “For us, it’s about not hanging our heads. I think we did a great job with our rotations. Everyone came in, gave energy, gave great minutes, scored the ball. It’s about making sure that when your name is called, you’re ready to go.”

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