Not every gold medal comes with doubt attached. The guard for the Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark, admitted that she thought it would be closer, as Team USA won 97-79 against France to win their fifth successive World Cup title and 36th successive match at a World Cup.

Speaking in her postgame interview after the final, Clark said, "It was a little more comfortable than maybe I was expecting, but you've got to give France a lot of credit. They've had a great tournament, but we were just resilient. I just think it shows the dominance we have in the U.S. in terms of basketball."

But her shock is justified when one looks at how the scores have been divided up. France established a 31-17 lead in the second quarter, the first time that USA had seen such a deficit in their World Cup games since 2006, only to have the Americans take complete control with a 30-12 third quarter.

That comeback shaped how Clark read the game's turning point. Discussing the shift, she said, "I thought we just really came out after we kind of gave up that 11-point lead and really kind of found our footing a little bit. Especially in the second half, we just dominated and really never let them back in the game."

The statistics prove her right. The U.S. team managed to score at 56% for field goals and 62.2% for two-pointers during the second-half of the game, while restricting the French team to 48% from the field as they built up a 10-0 scoring run and a lead of up to 27 points.

This is not an isolated case, and it tells you a lot about the roster that is still getting comfortable at this level.

Breanna Stewart And Kara Lawson Reflect on a Debut-Heavy Group

For Clark, her first senior gold was part of a team that was lacking in experience. Nine out of the 12 players whom head coach Kara Lawson of ‌Team USA brought to Berlin had never played in the World Cup before, apart from Breanna Stewart, Jackie Young, and Kahleah Copper.

After winning the World Cup MVP title, Stewart discussed this chemistry after the match, saying, "I've been fortunate to play with a lot of amazing players, and this group was really special. The way we were tested on and off the court and we continued to thrive through it, really proud of them."

Lawson offered a similar assessment of her largely first-time roster. She said, "Really proud of our players; they got this done. In the biggest moments, they continue [to] play their best."

Clark came off the bench to score 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor while adding five assists in 13 minutes played, as she averaged 7.8 points and 5.3 assists in six games.

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Written by

Utsav Gupta

Edited by

Utsav Gupta