Team USA routs Canada reach fiba women basketball world cup gold medal game
Image Source : ESPN
In any case, in Friday's elimination round, the Americans left no equivocalness about how solid they're searching in their journey to procure their fourth sequential World Cup title, annihilating Canada 83-43 to progress to the gold-decoration game Saturday at 2 a.m. ET. They'll play China - - which beat Australia in the other elimination round 61-59 - - in a rematch of their gathering stage meeting, which the U.S. won by 14.
Highest level USA scored the initial 15 marks of Friday's down and never thought back, holding Canada - - the No. 4 group in the FIBA world rankings - - to a seven-point first quarter and an eight-point third period, as well as 22% shooting from the field.
The US has now won 29 sequential World Cup games, tracing all the way back to the bronze-decoration match in 2006. Group USA has dropped only one game in a significant global contest (World Cup and Olympics) beginning around 1994.
Playing in its subsequent World Cup elimination round and first starting around 1986, Group Canada had outperformed numerous assumptions this competition, completing second in Gathering B after a 10th spot finish at the Tokyo Olympics that provoked the group to head out in different directions from its previous mentor.
With Victor Lapeña now in charge, the group made progress protectively, yet that force was absent at every turn against the U.S.
On Friday, the U.S. turned into the main group to hold a rival to under 50 places in a World Cup elimination round and recorded the biggest edge of triumph (40) for that round of the occasion.
"I believe that we weren't content with the way that we began yesterday against Serbia," ruling World Cup MVP Breanna Stewart said. "There were minutes that we played well, yet there were a ton of minutes that we didn't, and truly ensuring that that was the place of accentuation today. It was the way that we began the game, particularly with our starters, that five, we needed to ensure that we set the vibe for the whole game."
Canada will compete for the bronze medal against Australia at 11 p.m. ET on Friday.
The United States held Canada scoreless on its first nine shots before the Canadians finally got one in. Shakira Austin's free throws put the US ahead 27-7 at the end of the first quarter, and once the starters were reintroduced midway through the second, the US shifted into high gear, leading 45-21 at halftime.
Team USA didn't have a perfect first 20 minutes (it committed nine mistakes), but its defense, which has been its calling card this tournament, held firm to help it create a lead.
A 22-8 third quarter, capped by Sabrina Ionescu's buzzer-beater half-court heave, increased the USA lead to 67-29.
Stewart (17 points), A'ja Wilson (15 points, 12 rebounds), and Kelsey Plum (14 points) combined to outscore Canada 46-43, with Alyssa Thomas adding 10 points.
The new appearance Despite having eight players on its roster who had never played in a World Cup before, Team USA returns to its traditional spot in the gold-medal game. Five of its 12 players arrived in Sydney shortly after the WNBA Finals, with three champion Las Vegas Aces players missing the tournament's first two games.
"All in all, it's difficult to arrive," Jewell Loyd said. "It might at times seem that way, yet it's truly difficult for us to arrive, and with another group and new faces, it's energizing."
Two-way wing Kahleah Copper, who began numerous games this competition, missed the elimination round with a left hip physical issue she experienced in the quarterfinal. Reeve expressed that there's "an opportunity" she'll take the court Saturday and that she is viewed as problematic.