American women's basketball team clinch Paris spot with World Cup win

The United States have compounded their dominance over women's basketball with victory in the 2022 FIBA Women's World Cup, clinching a spot for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

With the final round taking place at the Sydney SuperDome in Sydney, Australia, the US faced off with a Serbia team in the quarter-finals and showed their dominance with an 88-55 victory. They would face Canada in the semifinals after a rampant first-half display guided them to a 79-60 win. On the other side of the bracket, China beat France 85-71 thanks to Li Meng contributing 23 points, and Australia found Belgium lightwork with an 86-69 victory; the gap was fifteen points by half time.

In the semifinals, Canada took on the United States but the gap in quality was too much to bear, with the US winning 83-43 after taking a twenty point lead in the first quarter. Next, Australia faced China. In one of the best games in Women's World Cup history, a back and forth encounter, it was 59-59 apiece with seconds to go. But when Wang Siyu was fouled by Sami Whitcomb, the Shandong Six Stars guard sunk both free throws to earn China a 61-59 win.

Australia would have to settle for a third place play-off, where they beat Canada 95-65 where Lauren Jackson contributed a mammoth thirty points. The final would be between China and the USA, and China had impressed all tournament but the Americans were on another level, having already beaten them in the group stage. There would be no dramatic last-moment victories this time: the US were just consistently better and won 83-61, becoming world champions for the eleventh time (and fourth in a row), and earning a spot to the Paris Olympics.

The FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (February 2024) will decide the other ten places, with hosts France also having qualified for the twelve-team tournament in Paris.

Writer, Totallympics News