The march continues: The United States, three-time defending champions, made short work of their Canadian neighbor (83:43), who was overtaken from the start in Sydney on Friday, and reached the final of the Women’s Basketball World Cup.

The Americans take on China in the Superdome on Saturday, the only selection they have managed to compete with so far, beaten with distinction in pools (77-63).

Canada were also seen as a relatively tough opponent, having mastered their theme in pools (a single loss when they had nothing left to play) and bowled Puerto Rico in the previous round (79-60).

It didn’t come to that and he didn’t even disappoint a quarter, unlike the Serbs the day before in the quarterfinals (88:55 for the USA).

Is it the ferocious all-terrain defensive pressure exerted by “Team USA”? The challenge of a first semi-final since 1986?

The Canadians certainly delivered a nightmarish first quarter (7-27) and the Americans were perfect, leading 15-0 before finally conceding a first basket (5′).

Canada, never more than six points behind in the competition, missed their first nine shots and posted a starving two-point percentage after the first quarter: 8% (1/12)!

Conversely, the Americans succeeded in everything (75% with 2 points and 100% with 3 points).

records

“It looked easy, but we made the game easy (…) We insisted on starting the game, we wanted it to set the tone for the rest. We have to do that again tomorrow,” said US captain Breanna Stewart.

The numbers at the end of the game are also staggering, illustrating both American performance (53 rebounds on 37, 6/14 on 3 points) and Canadian nonconformity (26% success on 2 points).

No team had scored as few points in a women’s World Cup semi-final since South Korea’s previous ‘record’ 53 against Russia in 2002.

It is also the largest points difference (40) ever recorded in a semi-final of the competition, ahead of the +36 in the USA-Spain match in 2010 (106-70).

The United States prepared ideally for their final without drawing on their reserves, coach Cheryl Reeve managing the playing time of their winning treble Stewart (17 points on 4/5 on three points) and fellow central defender A’ja Wilson (15 points , 12 rebounds) and Alyssa Thomas (10 points with 100% success).