Breanna Stewart Leads USA to Fifth Consecutive FIBA World Cup Title
Breanna Stewart stood at center court in Berlin on Sunday night, gold medal around her neck, confetti still drifting through the air. The scoreboard behind her read 97-79. Another final. Another dominant USA performance. And once again, it was her tournament.
Team USA’s 18-point win over France sealed a fifth consecutive FIBA Women’s World Cup title for the Americans and confirmed what the last decade has already made obvious: this era belongs to Breanna Stewart.
Stewart owns the moment – again
On a night loaded with pressure and history, Stewart didn’t just guide a young USA squad. She imposed herself on the final.
Twenty-two points. Ten rebounds. Four assists. The New York Liberty star controlled the game’s tempo, punished mismatches, and cleaned the glass as France tried, and failed, to keep pace.
The performance earned her a second World Cup MVP, adding 2024 to the trophy she first lifted in 2018. She now joins Sue Bird as the only Team USA players with four World Cup gold medals, a pairing that reads like a shorthand history of modern USA Basketball.
Across the tournament, Stewart’s numbers underlined her authority: 12.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game on 55.3% shooting. Efficient. Relentless. Inevitable.
Her coach, Kara Lawson, didn’t bother with understatement.
“Four World Cups? That’s tied for the most ever,” Lawson said. “She is USA Basketball. When you think of the last 15 years, it’s Stewie. We’re just really lucky to be a part of her era.”
A new generation, same standard
This wasn’t a veteran-heavy juggernaut cruising on muscle memory. Seven players on this roster were making their Team USA debut in a major tournament. Stewart’s role went beyond scoring and rebounding; she had to be the compass.
Asked how she led such an inexperienced group, she boiled it down to honesty and clarity.
Just being direct about what this tournament demands. About how Europe plays. About how opponents keep raising their level. And then reminding everyone of a simple truth: the standard still lives in the USA jersey.
“We’re the standard. We always have been,” Stewart said. “We are continuing to do that, especially with this gold medal. And not forgetting that. It’s always about us.”
The message showed in the way the Americans handled France’s surges. Each time Gabby Williams or her teammates threatened to claw back, Stewart and her side responded with poise and a scoring run that reasserted control.
Jackie Young steps into the spotlight
Stewart wasn’t alone on the podium.
Jackie Young, the Las Vegas Aces guard, capped a superb tournament with a complete performance in the final: 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. She attacked closeouts, hit big shots and helped steady the offense when France tried to speed up the game.
Her World Cup averages — 12.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists — earned her a place alongside Stewart on the FIBA All-Tournament team, a fitting recognition for a player whose game keeps expanding on the biggest stages.
They were joined on that elite list by Spain’s Iyana Martin, Germany’s Leonie Fiebich and France’s Gabby Williams, a group that hints at the global depth rising around USA Basketball.
Martin, just 20 and drafted by the Portland Fire, led Spain to bronze with 17.5 points per game, the tournament’s fourth-best scoring mark. She also topped Spain’s charts in assists (4.2) and steals (2.2) per game, a complete guard performance that signals a star in the making.
Fiebich, Stewart’s Liberty teammate, anchored Germany’s surprising run to fourth place with 9.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Williams, starring for the Golden State Valkyries in the WNBA, finished third in scoring among all players at 18.7 points per game and drove France to the final with her trademark edge.
A résumé that barely seems real
For Stewart, the MVP trophy in Berlin slides into an already overcrowded cabinet.
Two World Cup MVPs. Two WNBA MVPs. Two WNBA Finals MVPs. Olympics MVP in 2021. Four straight Final Four Most Outstanding Player awards at UConn — one for every year she played college basketball.
The team honors are even more staggering: four World Cup titles, three Olympic gold medals, two WNBA championships, four NCAA championships.
And then the statistic that almost defies belief: she has never lost a game played in a World Cup, Olympics or NCAA Tournament.
“I pride myself on being consistently great,” Stewart said. “That’s showing up when it’s the big moments, the small moments and all the moments in between. It’s an unrealistic confidence I have in myself.”
Unrealistic or not, that confidence keeps translating into banners, medals and nights like this one in Berlin — where a young USA team learned, up close, what it looks like when the standard bearer of a generation refuses to let history slip.
