BERLIN (AP) — Breanna Stewart scored 16 points and Kahleah Copper added 13 to help the U.S. beat Spain 76-66 on Saturday, advancing to the championship game of the women's FIBA World Cup.
The Americans will face France in a rematch of the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal game that the U.S. won by a point.
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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.
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.
The U.S. spent a lot of the game at the foul line, making 27 of 35.
This was the first meeting in the World Cup between the teams since the U.S. topped Spain for the gold medal in the 2014 tournament. That was Stewart's debut with the national team.
Spain started out hot early, scoring nine of the first 10 points of the game. That was the largest deficit the Americans had faced in this tournament, topping the three points they trailed Italy by in that 55-52 victory. It was 16-9 before the U.S. newcomers entered the game and helped close the period with a 12-2 run.
The Americans though couldn't really extend that lead much in the second quarter. They couldn't get into any offensive flow as Spain was playing a physical defense that resulted in foul after foul being called. The U.S. took 27 free throws in the first half, making 19 of them, while the team had 26 field-goal attempts total. The U.S. led 39-36 at the break.
Spain, which will play host Germany in the bronze medal game on Sunday, wouldn't go away.
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