Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello’s Australian Opals hung around, a bit, Friday. Just a tad. Then, two of her New York players, along with other members of Team USA, decided enough was enough.

The Australians only trailed Team USA by four points after the first quarter, as the Opals matched the Americans by putting five WNBA players of their own on the court to begin the game. This wasn’t going to be easy for Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, & Co.

But then it kind of was, as Team USA opened the second quarter on a 20-5 than unofficially ended the contest and sent them to the gold medal match, leaving Australia in position to claim a bronze at best.

“These are the best players in the world,” said Brondello. “Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, the names go on and on. We had to play a perfect game today. You gotta believe that you can, maybe you get them on a bad day. It wasn’t our best day.”

No it was not, and worse yet, many of Team USA’s stars showed out. New York’s Stewart, whose greatness Brondello knows better than anybody, put up 16/6/5, leading all scorers.

Again, because of ridiculously strict copyright-enforcement from the IOC, we can’t show you any of Stewie’s highlights, but anybody who’s watched a Liberty game in the past year-and-a-half can probably imagine them.

Same with the Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young, who put up 10/8/1/2/4 and 14/2/5/2/0, respectively.

Not to leave her fellow Lib hanging, Sabrina Ionescu made the most of her ten minutes off the bench, scoring ten points on 3-of-6 shooting including a couple signature deep-balls. Ionescu hasn’t quite ridden the pine — like the endlessly discussed Jayson Tatum on the men’s side — but hasn’t been the focal point some thought she would be for Cheryl Reeve’s team. Still, between Friday’s ten points and her signature shush from earlier in the tourney, Ionescu is getting her moments.

Ionescu may get some more moments in the gold medal match on Sunday afternoon, which would represent Team USA’s 61st straight win eighth straight gold. To do so, they’ll have the same matchup their male counterparts do against host country France.

France’s Marine Johannès, “the Magician” likely to re-join the Liberty in 2025, did not repeat her incredible quarter-finals performance. In the semis vs. Belgium, she shot just 1-of-10 and did not play down the stretch against worthy foe Belgium.

Still, behind WNBA-caliber teammates such as Gabby Williams and Iliana Rupert, Johannès advanced to a matchup against familiar faces after a raucous overtime victory, featuring heroic shots and big plays across the board. Joe Tsai, who’s back in Paris for basketball’s medal rounds, enjoyed his view of the action…

Thus, all three women’s basketball medals could be claimed by members of the New York Liberty. USA-France tips off at 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, as Stewart and friends will be heavily favored, but are guaranteed silver-at-worst.

Meanwhile, Brondello’s Aussie side will fight with the Belgians for bronze, tipping off bright and early (or really late for some people) at 5:30 a.m. ET on Sunday.

For the early risers on Saturday, Dennis Schroder and his German national team will take on Nikola Jokic and Serbia (with its two Nets stashes, Nikola Milutinov and Vanja Markinovic) in the men’s medal round. starting at 5:00 a.m. ET on Peacock. Winner will take the bronze, the loser will go home without a medal. A bronze will be the best Olympic finish for the Germans ever. They haven’t finished higher than seventh, which they accomplished in 1992. The men’s gold medal game starts on 3:30 p.m. ET.