USA Prevail Over France 70-65; Advance to U19 Semifinals

18 July 2025

USA 70, FRA 65

View the USA-France box score here.

The USA women (5-0) earned a hard fought 70-65 win over France (2-2, played two Group games due to withdrawal of Mali) in the quarterfinals of the 2025 FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup in Brno, Czechia. The win was the 26th consecutive by the Americans in U19 competition, dating back to 2019, and set a FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup mark for consecutive wins.

The United States will move on to the semifinals on Saturday. They are set to face Spain in a rematch of the 2023 U19 gold medal game that saw the Americans take a narrow 69-66 win for the title.

Postgame Notes

C’est Bon: The U.S. held a 38-32 halftime lead for their closest contest at the break this week. France was relentless on both end of the floor throughout the third quarter and got to within 1 point on two occasions, including with 3:45 left in the period. From there, Emilee Skinner scored the U.S. bench’s first points of the game before Sienna Betts and Saniyah Hall added another 4 to give the USA a 52-45 cushion entering the fourth quarter.

The USA needed Skinner, and she delivered late in the third quarter and early in the fourth, scoring 6 of her team’s 10 points over about a three-minute span across the quarters. The stars and stripes built a 64-52 cushion with 3:34 to play, highlighted by a Kayleigh Heckel 3-pointer. The buffer was enough to withstand a late flurry from France and take the win.

Au Contraire, Mon Frère: The United States matched the toughest defense they have faced in the tournament with their own trademark D. The opponent has yet to shoot better than 37% from the field against the American defense, with France going 36.4% from the floor (24-66 FG) and hitting 5-of-13 attempts from 3-point. As has been the case throughout the week, the U.S. continued to bully teams into turnovers, attempts late into the clock and shot clock violations.

In 20 quarter of basketball, the red, white and blue have given up 2 20-point quarters (22, 2nd, FRA; 20, 4th, FRA) with France scoring 10 and 13 in the first and third quarter, respectively.

Oh Là Là: Saniyah Hall generated nearly half of the U.S.’s offense in the first half, recording 16 points (6-12 FG, 3-6 3FG, 1-2 FT), including timely baskets when France would start to gain momentum, and nearly matching her average of 18.0 points in the previous four contests. Hall went on to record her third 20-point game of the tournament with 26 total, the most for an American this week. She is the sixth American to reach the 26-point threshold in U19 competition. She averages 19.6 points (3rd among all players) and 3.4 steals (1st) for the week.

Crème de la Crème: The U.S. starting five accounted for 64 of the team’s 70 total points against France. That output ranks third best for the American first five (71 vs. ISR; 69 vs CHN; 56 vs KOR). Leading the way was Hall (26 points), followed by Betts (13), Heckel (13), Jordan Lee (9) and Jazzy Davidson (2).

However, the starters accounting for 91% (64-70) of tonight’s total is the highest of the tournament (62% vs. ISR, 71/114). In total, the USA starting lineup has scored 56% (293/519) of the country’s total points.

Je Ne Sais Quoi: Betts delivered her fourth consecutive double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Betts leads all players with 4 double-doubles and is top 10 in several individual categories including scoring (7th, 17.4 ppg), field goal shooting (2nd, 61.7% FG), rebounds (2nd, 10.4 rpg) and blocks (3rd, 2.4 bpg).

Voilà: The United States improved to 105-13 overall in U19 competition and have won 26 consecutive games, dating back to the first Group Phase win (79-56 vs. AUS) at the 2019 edition, to set a record U19 Women’s World Cup win streak. Entering tonight, the USA owned two 25-game streaks (also: last 3 games in 2011, 9 wins in 2013, 7 wins in 2015, 6 wins in 2017).

The meeting between the United States and France was their eighth with the USA improving to 7-1 in the series.