USA Women's Basketball beats Australia to advance to final, extending Olympics win streak to 60 games

The United States women's basketball team is just one game away from a historic eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal. Team USA delivered its best performance yet during the 2024 Paris Olympics with a 85-64 destruction of Australia in the semifinals on Friday. Now winners of 60 games in a row during Olympic competition, the Americans will face either France or Belgium in the gold medal game on Sunday.

It took less than four minutes for Team USA to build its first double-digit lead of the game, but Australia used a late run in the first quarter to cut the deficit to just four points at the opening break. The Americans quickly seized back momentum with a 12-0 run to start the second quarter and never looked back. They led by as much as 30 at one point and were simply too good on both ends of the floor.

Breanna Stewart led the way with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, while A'ja Wilson added 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks as those two continued their brilliant tournament. Jackie Young, meanwhile, got the start again and reinforced her status as the third scoring option by chipping in 14 points. As a team, the Americans shot 50.7% from the field.

Here are some key takeaways from the game:

Too good from Team USA

Even as the rest of the world has made tremendous strides in women's basketball, Team USA remains by far the most talented team, both in terms of top-tier players and depth. As a result, the Americans don't always have to play their best to pick up wins on the international stage. But when they do, no one else has a chance, as Australia found out Friday.

The U.S. was locked in right from the opening tip, particularly on the defensive end, where they forced a turnover on the opening possession, then five more in the first quarter alone. Their strong defense helped them get out in transition for easy baskets, which then, in turn, forced Australia to play against a set defense for a majority of the game. The Aussies, who boast a number of WNBA veterans on their roster, looked completely overmatched.

"Really, starting with our defense and scoring as much as we can in transition," Stewart said. "Knowing that we have depth that nobody else does in this tournament, and making sure that we got where we wanted to be. Now we've got one more game to get the gold medal."

Stewart and Wilson dominate again

Ever since this group's opening loss to Team WNBA in the WNBA All-Star Game last month, Stewart and Wilson have been the two key figures on both sides of the ball. That was the case once again in the semifinals, as the reigning and soon-to-be WNBA MVP took over to send the Americans to the gold medal match.

Stewart went for 16 points, six rebounds and five assists on 6-of-12 from the field, while Wilson added 10 points, eight rebounds, two steals and four blocks on 5-of-7 shooting. Even by their remarkable standards, this has been an incredible few weeks of basketball from the two best players in the world. 

The winning streak reaches 60 games

The last time Team USA lost a game at the Olympics was in the semifinals of the 1992 games in Barcelona, when the Unified Team (the team of the former Soviet Union, which had collapsed the previous year) beat them by them by six. Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner are the only players on the current U.S. squad that were even alive for that defeat. 

After the win over Australia on Friday, Team USA's winning streak has reached a remarkable 60 games. Whether they play France or Belgium on Sunday, they'll be heavy favorites to extend that run to 61 games and win their eighth consecutive gold medal. 

"It's absolutely incredible," Stewart said. "I don't think I can even put it into words the fact that what we've done with USA Basketball with this national team, 60 straight wins. But this is the standard. When I first put that USA jersey on, I knew that it was gold or bust."