The U.S. women’s basketball team closed out France and closed out the Olympics, a 68-67 win that made them the most dominant squad in the history of the Games. 

Team USA became the first team in any traditional sport to claim eight consecutive Olympic titles. It wasn’t simple. It wasn’t easy. But it was golden. 

They had to rally from a 10-point deficit in the third quarter for their 61st straight victory in Olympic competition. They had to dig deep to keep that streak going. 

“I’m so proud of the resilientness that my team showed. We could’ve fumbled, we could’ve crumbled so many times, but we pulled through,” said A’ja Wilson, who had 21 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. “And to say that I’m a two-time gold medalist, I’m so blessed. God, He was working today, man.” 

If there were any divine intervention, Team USA needed it to fight back from a 35-25 third-quarter deficit.

They pulled ahead in the fourth, but the lead wasn’t safe until the last second, when France’s Gabby Williams — harassed by Liberty star Breanna Stewart’s long-armed defense — took her jumper just inches over the line, a 2-pointer instead of the 3 that the hosts had needed. 

There would be no overtime. Just American victory. Again. 

“It hasn’t been easy. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it and it would look so great,” Wilson said in an on-court TV interview. “But sometimes you’ve got to take the ugly wins and say that you’re a gold medalist, and I’ll take those any day.” 

Former Rutgers star Kahleah Copper added 12 points and five rebounds off the bench for Team USA, including 10 points in a final period that saw five ties and two lead changes. 

“[She’s] that b—h,” Wilson gushed of Copper. 

France went ahead, 51-49, with 5:32 left, but Copper ensured the last of those lead changes with a three-point play 57 seconds later. 

Wilson increased Team USA’s lead to 63-59 with a free throw with 17 seconds remaining. 

Williams hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 65-64 with five seconds in regulation, but Copper calmly sank a pair of foul shots to push it back to 67-64. Stewart defended Williams (19 points) into a 2 when she needed a 3. 

The final had a distinct Liberty feel, with Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu winning gold, Marine Johannès (nine points) and stash pick Marine Fauthoux taking silver and coach Sandy Brondello guiding Australia to a bronze.

Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai and husband Joe (who owns the Nets) were on hand. 

“Man, I had all the feels. You think about your journey and what it takes to stand on that podium: the ups, the downs, everything. And then it all goes away because you got the gold,” Copper said on TV after winning gold. 

Diana Taurasi won her sixth basketball gold — the most of any man or woman — to go with three WNBA crowns and three NCAA titles at UConn. 

“It’s bringing a group of people together, very talented women and doing it all for your country,” said Taurasi, 42, in a TV interview. “At the end of the day, it’s all about winning, and I think this crew proved it.” 

If Taurasi’s path to this podium had been long, Brittney Griner’s was even more arduous. 

“My country fought for me to get back,” Griner said. “And I was able to bring home gold for my country. There’s just no greater feeling.” 

Two years earlier, Griner had been stuck in a Russian penal colony, unsure when she’d see freedom much less a court. She’d been sentenced to nine years for drug possession, spending 10 months in jail before being freed in a December 2022 prisoner exchange.

Sunday, 612 days later, she was on the podium crying, this time joyful tears. 

“This one meant a lot to me,” Griner said. “I mean, just having a chance to play for gold, represent my country, what my country did for me? Yeah, this is the highest on the pinnacle right here.”