France beats host Germany 86-64 for showdown with US in women’s FIBA World Cup final

BERLIN (AP) — Gabby Williams led France to the final of the women’s FIBA World Cup with an 86-64 win over host Germany on Saturday.

France will face the United States in the gold medal game Sunday after the four-time defending champion and tournament favorite defeated Spain 76-66 in the other semifinal.

Willams scored 22 points and had five rebounds to put France in touching distance of the title after a dogged performance from the host, which refused to give up in front of a partisan crowd at Berlin Arena.

“A tricky game,” said France coach Jean-Aimé Toupane, whose team is set for its best World Cup finish. France hasn’t won a medal since the inaugural tournament in 1953, when the team finished third in the final round.

Janelle Salaün had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds against Germany, while Marine Johannès, who contributed three 3-pointers among her 13 points, slowed the game down in the final quarter.

“It was really a fight tonight, I think we were ready for that,” Johannès said.

It was the first semifinal appearance for both teams since the stage was introduced in 1986.

Pressure gets to Germany

Germany rued 25 turnovers on an evening when French pressure took its toll.

“When you have 25 of them and 10, 12 in my personal opinion were unnecessary or careless, it’s very, very difficult to stay in a game against France,” Germany coach Olaf Lange said.

There was an air of nervous anticipation around the arena before tip-off as Germany, already further than ever before in its second tournament appearance, would need another major upset to make the final.

Lange spoke of “ German basketball’s best day ” after the quarterfinal win over European champion Belgium.

The German players’ names were announced to roars and a huge Germany jersey with the words, “Germany – you, us, one team,” was unfurled before the game. A chant of “Deutschland, Deutschland, Deutschland,” started once it began.

Germany, which recovered impressively since losing its opening game to Spain by 30 points, kept France below 90 points for the first time in the tournament and can look forward to the possibility of a bronze medal against Spain on Sunday.

“It’s our third back-to-back (game) this tournament, which is insane. Honestly, it’s crazy in that kind of tournament, a World Cup, to have three back-to-backs,” forward Leonie Fiebrich said. “We know what to do. We had a really tough game in the first game. We turned around and played really well the next game. So that’s our plan, and everything’s positive from now on.”

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