New-look Team USA wins fourth straight gold at FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup

SYDNEY — A fair amount of uncertainty surrounded USA Basketball as they entered a new chapter of the post-Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi era.

But in front of a crowd of 15,895 fans at the Sydney SuperDome — most of whom were enthusiastically supporting Team China — the new-look Team USA successfully enhanced the legacy that was built by those who came before them by winning a fourth consecutive World Cup gold and 11th overall behind a 83-61 victory over China in the final.

Just five players from the Tokyo Olympic team that won a seventh-consecutive gold suited up in Sydney for the red, white and blue. No Bird, Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles, Tina Charles or Brittney Griner. Instead, the team that took the floor featured just one 30-year-old and six newcomers to the senior national team at this level of competition, after the squad had been defined for years by its experience and elder-statesmanship. Even the head coach, Cheryl Reeve, who has won four titles with the Minnesota Lynx, freshly assumed the helm of one of the greatest dynasties sports have known.

The USA has dropped just one game in a major international competition (World Cup or Olympic play) since 1994: the semifinals of the 2006 World Cup against Russia.

Silver-medalist China made its first World Cup final appearance since 1994, also the last time it won a medal at a major international competition. Host nation Australia took home the bronze behind a 95-65 win over Canada in which former WNBA MVP and champion Lauren Jackson, who unretired from the sport and is playing at 41, dropped 30 points in her final game for the Opals.

Fresh of winning the WNBA title not even two weeks ago, Team USA's Las Vegas Aces trio Chelsea Gray (the 2022 Finals MVP), A'ja Wilson (the 2022