5 members of the USA Basketball Girls’s Nationwide Crew that competed within the 2026 FIBA World Cup helped win the US an eighth-straight gold medal on the 2024 Paris Olympic Video games.

These 5 gamers—Breanna Stewart, Chelsea Grey, Jackie Younger, Kahleah Copper and Napheesa Collier—ensured that the US additionally gained a fifth-straight World Cup gold medal on Sunday in Berlin.

That quintet set the tone for a 30-12 third quarter that turned a World Cup ultimate in opposition to France that was trending the unsuitable path for Crew USA into one other instance of why the People stay the queens of the basketball world.

After trailing by as many as 14 factors within the first half, Crew USA ultimately cruised to a 97-79 victory.

Stewart reminded why her trophy case is overflowing, scoring 22 factors on 70 % taking pictures whereas grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing 4 assists. It was an effort that, together with a gold medal, would add one other trophy to her case: World Cup MVP. She’s now the first-ever two-time World Cup MVP.

Younger likewise turned within the type of efficiency indicative of the one basketball participant to win a highschool state championship, NCAA nationwide championship, WNBA championship, 3×3 Olympic gold medal, 5×5 Olympic gold medal and, now, FIBA World Cup gold medal. Named Participant of the Sport, Younger scored 18 factors, going 4-for-7 from 3, along with amassing six rebounds and 5 assists. Younger additionally joined Stewart because the American representatives on the All-Star 5.

Grey confirmed her champion credentials, offering a way of stability for Crew USA in an uneasy first half as she completed with 12 factors and 5 assists. Kahleah Copper equally affirmed her big-moment bona fides, preventing her solution to 15 factors whereas additionally elevating her defensive stage. Collier accomplished the primary 5, demonstrating an elevated defensive dedication and urgency as Crew USA snuffed out France’s hope for a medal brighter than silver.

As Stewart emphasised after the sport, Crew USA is the usual, and it’s the accountability of the gamers carrying pink, white and blue to each stay as much as and lengthen that customary.

The American vets, with that ferocious third-quarter kick, did simply that.

When their names have been then referred to as, the subsequent era of Crew USA abilities adopted their instance, with the defensive versatility of Aliyah Boston, defensive playmaking of Angel Reese and Rhyne Howard and well timed shotmaking of Caitlin Clark constructing on the gold medal-winning momentum established by the vets.

All collectively, the American effort overwhelmed a French crew that, till the ultimate 20 minutes of the event, had put collectively a run that appeared fated for gold.

Within the first half, Gabby Williams, as soon as once more, regarded just like the competitors’s finest participant, as she led a French facet that mixed aggressive protection with environment friendly offense. Then, the French dream dried up, as Crew USA shut down Williams and France’s 3-balls refused to fall. So near stealing gold in Paris two summers in the past, France as a substitute skilled a definitive defeat, falling down by practically 30 factors earlier than mustering a extra respectable ultimate margin.

Williams, who completed with 20 factors and 7 assists within the ultimate, nonetheless greater than earned her manner onto the All-Star 5, with Germany’s Leonie Fiebich and bronze-winning Spain’s Iyana Martín rounding out the group of particular person honorees. Within the third-place sport, Martín, additionally named the World Cup’s Rising Star, tallied 22 factors and 9 assists to spur Spain to the 81-58 victory over Germany.

As is the American intuition, discuss, nearly immediately, will flip to the subsequent problem in 2028, and who will and who gained’t be among the many dozen chosen to once more defend the American dynasty on the Los Angeles Olympic Video games in opposition to France, Spain and a girls’s basketball world with evermore expertise and ever much less concern.

However for now, let’s respect that Stewie, Jackie, Chelsea, Kah and extra have been carrying pink, white and blue in Berlin on Sunday, and that the USA Basketball Girls’s Nationwide Crew stays the best dynasty in all of sports activities.