BERLIN — France star Gabby Williams again did all she could only to be thwarted once more by the United States in the final of the women’s FIBA World Cup. The Americans won Sunday’s showdown between the teams 97-79, dealing Williams and France another painful loss after the women’s basketball final at the 2024 Olympics. The U.S. won that gold medal game in Paris by a point, 67-66, after Williams’ last-second shot was just inside the 3-point line rather than outside to tie the game. No last-second score could have salvaged anything for France on Sunday as the Americans recovered from a two-point halftime deficit with a dominant third-quarter performance – outscoring their opponents 30-12 – to effectively decide the result well ahead of time. Williams was the first French player to go and congratulate the winners. She had done her best, but she couldn’t do it alone for France. The former UConn standout scored 20 points, made three rebounds, seven assists, and three steals in Sunday’s final, capping an outstanding tournament in which she had scored an average 18.4 points across her five games before the final. Promising start France started promisingly against the U.S. and began the second quarter with eight unanswered points. The U.S. called a timeout. Williams then scored a 3-pointer to put France 14 points clear and wheeled away with her right arm up in celebration. Angel Reese looked concerned. She didn’t need to. Caitlin Clark ended the half with a triple to leave the U.S. trailing by just two points and the defending champions kept going from there. Williams had been playing it cool before the game, insisting she had “no preference” which country France faced in the final after she’d led her team in the semifinal win over host Germany. The U.S. still had to play Spain that night at Berlin Arena. If Williams felt she had unfinished business with the U.S., she refused to acknowledge it. No French player wanted to give the Americans any more motivation than they already had before the final, and Williams has made a point of not making her true feelings known. “We’re not going to show weaknesses on the court, we’re not going to show doubts. If we did, our opponents would eat us alive,” she said. Ciarán Fahey, The Associated Press
