Breanna Stewart and the United States looked dominant defensively as they beat Canada 83-43 on Friday to advance to the Women’s Basketball World Cup gold medal game for the fourth consecutive tournament.

Stewart scored 17 points as the Americans took an early lead to defeat a Canadian team whose 43 points were the lowest in World Cup semi-final history.

Canada played very well throughout the tournament and the goal was to go out there and really limit them, said Alyssa Thomas of the United States. We didn’t really lock down our game plan at the start.

The Americans will face China on Saturday, who edged Australia 61-59. The Chinese team lost to the United States by 14 points in the group stage, the closest game of the tournament for the Americans.

Our goal was to win a gold medal and we are in a position to do so, said USA coach Cheryl Reeve.

USA (7-0), maintaining a tournament-record scoring pace and margin of victory, took control of the opener by scoring the first 15 points. The Americans went into every game defensively and caused the Canadians to miss their first nine shots from the field. Offensively, Stewart, A™ja Wilson and Alyssa Thomas succeeded in just about everything they tried.

I think after that hit they really ran out of air, Thomas said. After that, they didn’t know what to do with their offense.

Laeticia Amihere, who plays in South Carolina for former USA coach Dawn Staley, finally put Canada on the scoreboard nearly five minutes after kickoff.

At the end of the first quarter, the United States already led 27-7. Canada had committed four turnovers, the same number they suffered in the entire game against Puerto Rico in the quarter-finals, which was the lowest total in a game in 30 years.

The Americans led 45-21 at halftime and the lead continued to grow in the final 20 minutes. The victory was the biggest margin for the United States in the round of 16, surpassing the 36-point victory over Spain in the 2010 World Cup.

Canada (5-2) advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 1986 and has a shot at winning its first medal since winning bronze that year.

We weren’t successful today, but we’ll take what we learned today and how we can improve tomorrow,” said Canadian captain Natalie Achonwa. We still have a game (against Australia) for a medal and it is just as important for us.

It was the 29th consecutive World Cup victory for the Americans, who have not lost since the 2006 semi-finals against Russia. The Soviet Union holds the World Cup record with 56 consecutive victories between 1959 and 1986. It is the second time in history that the United States has reached four consecutive Women’s World Cup finals. They also did it from 1979 to 1990, winning three.

Americans are averaging 101 points per game and their previous high was 99.1, set in 1994.