USA to meet China in Women's World Basketball Championship
The Americans were firmly in control of the continental derby from the start, never faltering in their seventh game of the tournament and winning their 29th consecutive game at the championships. The Soviet Union holds the record with 56 straight wins from 1959 to 1986.
The defending champions went for the win in the first quarter, which they won 27-7 and did not allow Canada to score for five minutes. "I think that took the wind out of their sails," Alyssa Thomas said.
But the mainstays of the winners this time were the game's top scorer Breanna Stewart with 17 points and eight rebounds. A'ja Wilson added a double double for 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The second semifinal was much more dramatic. Although China took an eight-point lead at halftime, the host Aussies came back into the game. China's progress was finally decided by two sixes from Wang Xiu with three seconds left.
China has only appeared in the finals of the championship in 1994, when it lost to Brazil. The Asian team, led by center Chan Xu with 19 points and 11 rebounds, also won bronze in 1983.
The Australians, on the other hand, missed a chance to repeat their final showdown with the USA from the previous championship. But they still face a bronze medal match and can win their sixth medal in the last seven championships.
Forty-one-year-old Lauren Jackson, who returned to basketball after six years only for the championships, has a chance to add to her collection of successes. The beer star already has a world gold in 2006 and two bronzes. At the Olympics, she won three silvers and one bronze.