BERLIN — Breanna Stewart had an American flag draped around her body as she soaked in the moment.
The U.S. captain scored 22 points, Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young added 18, and the Americans continued their domination of international play, winning a fifth straight women’s FIBA World Cup title with a 97-79 victory over France on Sunday.
The Americans have won 36 straight World Cup games, dating to the semifinals of the 2006 World Cup, when they lost to Russia.
“We are the standard,” said Stewart, who earned MVP honors of the tournament for the second time. “USA Basketball has continued to show up and go for gold and to have done that however many times consecutively is an insane stat. We want to make sure that we continue to build on that standard and everybody else knows it.”
Despite the final score, this game was not easy; the Americans faced their biggest deficit in the tournament since that loss to Russia when they were down 14 points in the first half to France. They calmly rallied behind Stewart and Young to get within two at halftime, with Caitlin Clark hitting a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
“I think we felt really good about where we were at,” said Clark, who finished with 12 points. “I think France was 8 for 14 (from 3-point range). We dug ourself a hole, but we climbed out of it, and I felt like we were never rattled by anything.”
Young shot 7-of-14 and had four 3-pointers, six rebounds and five assists. She was named Player of the Game.
The U.S. dominated in the second half, starting the third quarter with an 11-2 run to go up 54-47. Stewart, who has four World Cup titles to her name, had four points during the game-changing burst.
France was able to get within 55-51, but the Americans used a 16-3 run that included two unsportsmanlike fouls against France on the same play. The Americans were up 73-57 heading into the fourth quarter.
“I’m really happy with the way that we let the rest of the world know that our goal is always gold,” Stewart said. “Just really proud.”
The U.S. improved to 9-0 in gold medal games since finishing second in 1983 to the Soviet Union.
This was the second-youngest team the Americans have sent to a World Cup. There were many newcomers on the roster including Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, who were playing for the national team for the first time.
Dominique Malonga scored 21 points and Gabby Williams added 20 for France.
Spain topped host Germany to win the bronze medal.
