Team USA has another chance to rewrite the ending from the 2024 Paris Olympics, punching its ticket to the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup final on Sunday. The Americans survived Spain 76-66 after the game was tied at 58-58 entering the fourth, while France made history with an 86-64 win over Germany.

Now, the two teams meet again. But before they settle that score on Sunday, here are the biggest takeaways from a semifinal day that delivered plenty of drama, from Caitlin Clark’s unusually quiet night to a 20-year-old who refused to be intimidated by Team USA’s veterans.

Caitlin Clark’s Uncharacteristically Quiet Night as She Was Iced Out by Her Own Teammates

For Caitlin Clark, this was the quietest night of her World Cup run. The Fever star played under 17 minutes and scored just one point on a first-quarter free throw, though she still logged the second-most minutes off Kara Lawson’s bench. This is a striking contrast to the creative, high-impact role she had embraced in the games leading up to this semifinal.

There were also moments during the game when Clark appeared available but was not ultimately involved in the possession, creating the perception among some viewers that she was being bypassed by her own teammates. One play in particular has been circulating on social media. With five minutes remaining in the third quarter, Jackie Young was driving with the ball and had the option to find a wide-open Clark on the perimeter for a three-pointer. Instead, Young dribbled inside the arc and eventually made a seemingly more difficult pass to Breanna Stewart.

That sequence does not necessarily confirm any deliberate attempt to exclude Clark from the offense. In a tightly contested semifinal, the ball naturally gravitates toward whoever has the best option in the moment, and those decisions happen in fractions of a second. Going into a final against France, getting Clark more meaningfully involved will be one of the most important adjustments Lawson can make.

Team USA Leans on Veterans, Spain Trusts Its Youngsters, Kara Lawson’s Youth Dilemma

When Spain pushed Team USA into another tight game, the Americans once again turned to the experience of their veteran core to find a way through. Breanna Stewart led the way with 16 points, Kahleah Copper added 13, and Jackie Young contributed 12 points and five rebounds.

Stewart, in particular, came through when Team USA needed someone to steady the ship. Her scoring and defensive contributions helped the Americans finally establish control in the fourth quarter, while Young and Copper delivered key baskets as the lead began to stretch. It was a familiar formula: when the game became genuinely difficult, Lawson leaned on the players who have been through these moments before.

And that is where the contrast with Spain became particularly striking. While Team USA relied on its experienced group to navigate the pressure, it was Spain’s younger stars who refused to back down. Iyana Martín and Maria Conde both finished with 17 points, giving Spain the kind of relentless offensive spark that kept the Americans under genuine pressure for three full quarters.

That contrast inevitably brings Lawson’s approach back into the conversation. She has continued to trust the same experienced starting five of Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, Kahleah Copper, Breanna Stewart, and Napheesa Collier throughout the tournament. Against Spain, that experience ultimately delivered, but the game also demonstrated what a team can produce when it trusts its younger players in high-pressure moments. 

For Team USA, the veterans provided the answer when it mattered most. But with Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Sonia Citron, and others on the roster, the question of whether Lawson could afford to give that group a bigger role in the final will not go away quietly. Spain’s youngsters made sure of that..

Team USA Survives Another Major Test to Reach the Final

If France’s semifinal was about making history, Team USA’s was about surviving another serious challenge, and making sure the final quarter told a different story from the one that had preceded it.

Coming into the semifinal, Italy was the one team that had truly unsettled the Americans in Berlin. The 55-52 escape in the group stage had been the outlier in an otherwise dominant tournament run. And for long stretches against Spain, it began to look like another night of that kind might be approaching.

Spain refused to allow Team USA to settle into the rhythm that had made them so comfortable against Czechia and Hungary. The Americans led 21-18 after the opening quarter, but Spain responded strongly in the second, and didn’t allow them to widen the gap any further. And they continued with that momentum in the third quarter to eventually tie the game at 58-58. At this point, the comparison to Italy was becoming impossible to avoid.

But this time, Team USA wrote a different ending. They took complete control in the fourth quarter, outscoring Spain 18-8 to turn a tied game into a 10-point victory. It was not the 108-point explosion of the Hungary quarterfinal. It was not comfortable either. Spain made Team USA look vulnerable for three full quarters. But unlike Italy, there was no scramble in the closing seconds. Perhaps Team USA saved its best basketball for when it mattered most, and Italy remains, for now, the biggest scare of their Berlin campaign.

France Makes History by Reaching Its First-Ever World Cup Final

Semifinal day in Berlin began with one team chasing history and another hoping to keep its remarkable home run alive. By the final buzzer, France had accomplished something it had never done before, defeating Germany to book their place in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup final for the first time in the nation’s history. It was another giant leap forward for a French team that had already ended a long quarterfinal drought by beating China in the previous round.

Germany did make things interesting at various points in the game, particularly after cutting France’s advantage to eight in the fourth quarter. But France had a response every time their opponents threatened to make the game uncomfortable. A decisive 12-0 run late in the final period put the semifinal beyond all doubt and sent the French bench erupting.

Now, after an undefeated run through Berlin, they are just one win away from their first-ever World Cup championship. And waiting for them in the final will be the team they came agonizingly close to beating fourteen months ago in Paris. But France wouldn’t have reached this point without one player who essentially took the spotlight.

Gabby Williams: France’s Difference-Maker Before and Now

France needed someone to step forward in a semifinal against a German side carrying significant momentum. Gabby Williams answered that call in the most emphatically decisive fashion.

The French star delivered one of the finest performances of the entire tournament, finishing with 22 points, five rebounds, five assists, and four steals. She shot 8-of-12 from the field and was particularly devastating inside, connecting on 6-of-7 two-point attempts. Her efficiency was exceptional, and she finished the game without committing a single turnover.

Williams’ impact also extended well beyond the scoring column. Her four steals helped France consistently disrupt Germany’s offensive rhythm, while her contributions as both a rebounder and a playmaker made her genuinely impossible to contain through any single defensive scheme.

And this is not the first time Williams has emerged as France’s most important player when everything is on the line. In the 2024 Olympic final, the game that came within a single centimeter of ending Team USA’s legendary Olympic winning streak, she finished with 19 points, seven rebounds, and three steals. That buzzer-beater from beyond the arc that would have tied the game for France landed just inside the three-point line, and everything fell apart.

Now, averaging 18.4 points per game, third overall in the tournament, alongside 5.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and a remarkable 2.8 steals per game, Williams is making the strongest possible case as the World Cup’s most valuable player. She is France’s saving grace again. She is the reason Team USA cannot afford a single lapse on Sunday.

Whether the script gets completed differently this time, whether France finally gets the ending they came so close to in Paris, will be decided on Sunday. Everything is in place for a final that could surpass even that Olympic showdown. And Gabby Williams will be right at the center of it.

France’s Smooth Run vs. Team USA’s Bumpy Road to the Final

Coming into the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, Team USA was the overwhelming favorite. They arrived in Berlin with an embarrassment of talent and the expectation that they would march through the competition on the way to another world title. Their journey to the final, however, has been anything but straightforward.

The Americans have looked dominant at times, particularly in their 108-56 demolition of Hungary in the quarterfinals. But there have also been moments when the defending champions looked surprisingly vulnerable. 

The most alarming came against Italy in the group stage, when the Americans were pushed to the brink before escaping with a narrow 55-52 result, their lowest-scoring World Cup game in 42 years. This semifinal against Spain has provided another reminder, with the two teams entering the fourth quarter level at 58-58 before Team USA finally found another gear to win 76-66.

France, by contrast, has treated this World Cup like a business trip. Five games. Five wins. And virtually no drama. That is perhaps the most significant difference between these two finalists. Team USA has relied on its unmatched star power, veteran experience, and late-game surges to pull away when opponents made things uncomfortable. France has looked far more synchronized from the opening tip in every single game, with their aggressive defense, crisp ball movement, and perimeter shooting consistently building leads before the closing stages arrive.

Now the two very different journeys collide, and Team USA will enter the final as defending champion with the pedigree and depth to justify their favored status. But France has spent the entire tournament making one thing abundantly clear: they are not just happy to be in the championship game. They are in it to win it.

The Biggest Question: Can France Finally Finish the Job Against Team USA?

The final has a storyline that almost writes itself. France and Team USA will meet for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup title, but this is not their first championship showdown. The two nations faced each other in the gold-medal game at the 2024 Paris Olympics, producing one of the most dramatic finishes in the recent history of international women’s basketball. Team USA escaped that night with a 67-66 victory, but France came agonizingly close to forcing overtime. 

Two years later, Williams and France have another chance. Only this time, there will be no Olympic gold at stake. It will be the World Cup crown. 

France has already made history by reaching their first final. Team USA has survived another significant test to get there. But after everything that happened in Paris, the biggest question heading into Sunday is: can France finally finish the job?