Five storylines to watch in the FIBA Women’s World Cup gold medal game
USA TODAY Studio IX’s Callie Fin explains all of the interesting storylines that will unfold when Team USA faces France in the gold medal game of the FIBA Women’s World Cup.
The highlight reel for the United States’ 76-66 victory win over Spain on Saturday will not be filled with jaw-dropping passes or splashy 3-pointers from Caitlin Clark.
Team USA will play for the gold medal of the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup on Sunday beating Spain in the tournament’s semifinals. The Americans will face France, who they narrowly defeated in the gold medal game of the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Team USA showed it can win without an explosive offensive performance from Clark.
The 24-year-old superstar guard of the Indiana Fever played just under 17 minutes in the win and scored one point, knocking down a free throw in the first quarter. Clark also had one rebound, one assist, one steal and two turnovers. She shot 0-of-3 from the floor — all 3-point attempts — and was 1-of-3 from the free-throw line.
Clark’s best offensive play of the day came in the opening period when she fed a bounce pass to Fever teammate Aliyah Boston for an easy layup.
While Clark’s stats didn’t jump off the page, there was a reason she played the second-most minutes off the bench for Kara Lawson. The Iowa product was stout on defense for stretches of the game.
Clark also finished with the second-best plus-minus mark for Team USA on Saturday with 16. Plus-minus is an advanced statistic that tracks the net point differential for a team while a specific player is on the court. Boston had the best with 21.
With the game tied at 58 at the end of the third quarter, Team USA used an 18-6 run to take a 12-point lead in the fourth. Clark was subbed off midway through that run — at the 5:33 mark — as Lawson called her back to the bench 17 seconds after she missed a pull-up 3-pointer.
For the tournament, Clark is averaging 7.1 points, 5.8 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game.
The Americans will play on Sunday for what could be their fifth consecutive gold medal in the World Cup. France defeated Germany in the other semifinal 86-64 behind 22 points from Golden State Valkyries star Gabby Williams.