8 Straight! A’ja Wilson Leads Team USA to Olympic Gold in Hard-Fought Victory Against Host Nation France.Giang

It was a battle — but the U.S. women’s basketball team just pulled off their eighth-straight Olympic gold.

Facing home country France, Team USA had the crowd against them as they fought for a 67-66 victory.

The U.S. hadn’t lost an Olympic gold medal final since 1992 going into the matchup, and had won 60-straight Olympic games. France, meanwhile, was seeking their first-ever Olympic gold.

A’ja Wilson — who was named female athlete of the year at the ESPYs in July — led the team in points and rebounds, with 21 and 13, respectively. Kelsey Plum and Kahleah Cooper followed with 12 points each in the low-scoring match.

The game was feisty from the start, with French point guard Romane Bernies racking up three personal fouls before the end of the first quarter.

The crowd at Bercy Arena was on their feet when Wilson tied up the score to end the half. French fans held flags and large cutouts of their players’ faces at the high-stakes matchup.

Then France came out blazing in the third, putting up 10 unanswered points to start the second half. That seemed to wake the U.S. up, and a renewed focus on defense helped them pull ahead.

The U.S. women’s team had support from the men’s 2024 basketball gold medalists LeBron James, Bam Adebayo and Derrick White, who defeated France the night before at the same arena. Next to the men’s team champs was former WNBA star and four-time Olympic gold medalist Sue Bird with her fiancée, fellow multi-time Olympian Megan Rapinoe.

James, 39, sat courtside with his wife Savannah James and daughter Zhuri Nova, 9, while wearing his newly-earned gold medal.

Vanessa Bryant came to Bercy Arena to support the team with her three daughters Natalia, 21, Bianka, 7, and Capri, 5. The Bryant family is close with Ionescu, and Bianka even recently enjoyed a basketball lesson from the New York Liberty star on the family’s recent trip to N.Y.C.

Six-time NBA champion Scottie Pippen also took in the gold medal game next to Pau Gasol and South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley, who led Team USA to gold at the Tokyo Games.

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After the medal ceremony, Diana Taurasi — who won her record sixth gold medal, and likely her last, with the U.S. in Paris — and Kahleah Copper said the team was expecting France to be a competitive matchup. “We know what kind of pedigree they play with,” Taurasi, 42, told reporters including PEOPLE at the arena. “We all play overseas and playing in France are always the toughest games.”

“I mean, we’re, we’re in France right now,” Copper said of playing the home team. “The crowd is unbelievable.”

Plum may have been the most emotional member of the team during media interviews after the ceremony. When asked about the moment she walked up to the free throw line with just seconds left on the clock and a smile on her face, Plum told reporters, including PEOPLE, that she was “having a conversation with God” in that moment, adding, “I think he has a big sense of humor.”

“You know, this year has been absolutely brutal on me, and you know, the fact that I’m even playing basketball right now is like is big and so just to be able to be on the free throw line getting to shoot free throws for the gold medal…It kind of puts it in perspective,” said Plum.

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