Former Boston Celtics assistant coach Kara Lawson officially led the Team USA women's national team to the FIBA World Cup Finals on Saturday, as the Americans defeated Spain 76-66 in the semifinals.

For the second time in five tournament games, the Americans played a close contest: They only beat Italy by three points (55-52) in the Group Stage, and then only beat Spain by 10 here. This game was tied at 56-56 heading into the fourth quarter.

Though the Americans won, their dominance is being tested. The US hasn't lost a World Cup game since getting beaten by Russia in 2006. The US has also won every Olympic gold medal since 1996.

Sunday's championship matchup will be a rematch of the 2024 Paris Olympic final, which featured the US defeating France in a game that went down to the wire (67-66).

--Three Americans were in double-figures, including Breanna Stewart (16), Kahleah Copper (13) and Jackie Young (12).

--Young stars Paige Bueckers (6), Angel Reese (5) and Caitlin Clark (1) all struggled to make an offensive impact, but Bueckers did have three rebounds.

--The US out-rebounded Spain 41-35, but committed one more turnover (15-14). 

--The United States struggled from three-point range again, going just 3-of-18 (17 percent). They were 27-of-35 from free-throw line, which was the main separator. Spain had just 11 free-throw attempts.

The final will be played on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET in Berlin, Germany. It's too bad from a ratings perspective, because most eyes will be on Week 1 of the NFL season, or on the US Open men's tennis final between Alexander Zverev and American Ben Shelton.

The WNBA season will resume on Thursday. It's been on pause for this tournament.

Hired before the 2019-20 season, Lawson was the first female coach in team history. She spent just one season in Boston, but that season was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. She coached 64 games for the Celtics before COVID shut down the season for four months, but she left the team early on in the NBA Bubble to become the head women's coach at Duke, a position she's held for six seasons.

The Blue Devils, under her guidance, got to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last season. They have gotten back to being one of the top programs in the country under her watch. They won the ACC Tournament title in 2025-26.