A dominant second half allowed Team USA to erase an early deficit en route to yet another FIBA World Cup title.
The 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup was billed as the debut of the United States national basketball team's "young and turnt" core. Their seasoned and disciplined predecessors, however, proved that they still had headlining abilities at the perfect time.
Chelsea Gray, Breanna Stewart, and Jackie Young helped one brand of red, white, and blue take down another, as Team USA overcame an early deficit to secure a 97-79 victory over France in Berlin's anticipated World Cup finale.
With the win, Team USA capped off a perfect six-game showing in Germany and secured its fifth consecutive World Cup championship. That ties the tournament's longest streak of championship triumphs, with the defunct Soviet Union matching that between 1959 and 1975.
Four World Cup gold medals.
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) September 13, 2026
Two World Cup MVPs.
Breanna Stewart. 👏 pic.twitter.com/uM2zgkYfBT
Jackie Crown
Young won Player of the Game honors after accompanying 18 points with six rebounds and five assists. Stewart, remaining perfect in World Cup play after securing her fourth championship, was named MVP of the tournament after posting a 22-point, 10-rebound double-double. She becomes the first two-time winner of the World Cup MVP award, having previously prevailed at the 2018 competition in Spain.
The collaborative effort between Stewart and Young made them the first pair of American teammates to simultaneously earn at least 15 points and five rebounds in a World Cup final since the equally lauded Tamika Catchings and Lisa Leslie pulled off the feat in the 2002 win over Russia. Young also penned a sterling new piece of championship lore, becoming the first player to pair a high school, NCAA, and WNBA championship with a World Cup win and Olympic medals at both the 3x3 and 5-on-5 levels.
Jackie Young (18p, 6r, 5a, 4 3s) and @usabasketball capture their fifth straight @FIBAWWC title 🏆
— NBA (@NBA) September 13, 2026
She is the first player to win FIBA Women's World Cup Gold, 3x3 Olympic Gold, 5x5 Olympic Gold, and WNBA, NCAA and HS State Championships!pic.twitter.com/CtpLXHnJnB
French Press
Though Team USA has handled business against the French, Les Bleus have staged what many view as the most realistic threat to American exceptionalism on the feminine hardwood. France won its first six showings by an average margin of just under 36 points and took the Americans to the brink in their prior meeting at the 2024 Olympic final in Paris.
The French justified the significant hype around the game with a dominant early showing: having shared the lead with their star-spangled opponent for most of the opening period, Les Bleus kept the Americans off the board for the final three-plus minutes of the session, building a 20-17 lead. France then scored the first 11 points of the second with a run that began with Carla Leite sinking a trio of freebies on an Angel Reese foul and ended with a traditional triple from Gabby Williams.
That output, finished off with just about three minutes gone by in the period, created the largest deficit that the Americans faced in the tournament. It was built through a French onslaught that collapsed on them in the paint and forced five turnovers in the opening frame.
The French, Dispatched
From there, however, the Americans reminded the world exactly why they sit at the top of the FIBA rankings and their seasoned stars were more than happy to provide visual aids.
The Americans got things started with a de facto five-point play on their end immediately after Williams created the fateful 14-point lead: Young sank a three while Stewart drew a loose ball foul charged to Migna Touré. Young then fed Stewart for a bucket, getting things down to nine without warning.
HOW DID CHELSEA GRAY GET THIS TO DROP?! 🤯 #FIBAWWC pic.twitter.com/yc4X4gjZjc
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 13, 2026
It was the start of a 26-12 run to close out the period and all but six of the points were provided by either Gray, Stewart, or Young, all of whom have earned multiple Olympic golds while repping the 50 states. Young had the helper on two of the outlier points when she assisted on an Aliyah Boston basket and the lead was officially sliced to a single possession when Reese trapped Pauline Astier under the basket, leading to a turnover that created a buzzer-beating three from Caitlin Clark.
Halftime failed to break American momentum, as Team USA needed but 44 seconds to swipe the lead back after dueling doubles from Stewart and Napheesa Collier. Stewart, appropriately, got the tally that put the Americans ahead for good and the Americans never looked back. France never got closer than five after that and a permanent double-figure lead was established with a 15-4 run over the third's final 2:25.
That shifter climaxed with Copper sinking three of four free throws after an unsportsmanlike foul on Marine Johannès and Clark hitting another buzzer-beater, this one being a two that created the 73-57 lead after three.
The French Mistake
The Americans beat the French at their own game, forcing turnovers to help burglary expert Rhyne Howard impress off the bench and keeping Williams off the second-half scoreboard to the point where she failed to sink anything until the outcome was well-decided in the latter stages of the fourth.
"When we got down 10 or 11 in the second, we honestly felt really good," Stewart said in her postgame interview with Allie LaForce of TNT Sports. "We made a push, we cut it at halftime, and then we knew it was our game. We knew that we didn't play our best, so we wanted to continue to disrupt them defensively. Jackie and Kah did their thing with Gabby. She's a great player but we took her to making some tough shots and from there it was like the floodgates opened."
While the turnover battle was mostly even (16-15 to France's minor detriment), the Americans were far more effective at capitalizing upon such errors. Team USA scored 23 points off turnovers, part of a 17-9 advantage in fast-break tallies. Following some early bullying, the Americans doubled up the French in offensive rebounds (12-6, with Stewart pulling in five alone), leading to an 11-3 advantage in second-chance points.
Team USA outscored France 30-12 in the third quarter. The Americans inflated their advantage to as high as 27 in the fourth, rendering a 15-2 French run mostly moot beyond placing the finishing touches on a 21-point day for Dominique Malonga.
The Fateful 2028
Team USA's victorious dozen will now return to their respective domestic locales, where they will fight for a WNBA championship. On a national level, the question now becomes whether this same group will reconvene in 2028, when the Americans will look to defend home court at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Perhaps high on second-half euphoria, Sunday's American heroes sounded more than happy to run it back with the Cup-clinching club.
"Shoutout to my teammates. I wouldn't be able to do it without them," said Young, who told LaForce that she'd "of course" be happy to see the group get back together for 2028. "I'm just blessed to have the opportunity to even represent Team USA. But then again, shoutout to my teammates ... I'm not really focused on the individual accolades. I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help my team win. Today, it was just being aggressive."
"I've been fortunate to play with a lot of amazing players, and this group was really special," Stewart added in her own postgame statements. "The way that we were tested on and off the court, and we continue to thrive through it, I'm really proud of them, and excited to get this gold and bring it home."
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
