Diana Taurasi led the United States with 28 points, while Tina Thompson contributed 15.

"We had to prove to ourselves that we could play better than we did against Russia," Taurasi said. "We lost some of our pride in that game, but we managed to recover it today."

On Thursday, Russia stunned the two-time defending champion United States 75-68 in the semifinals.

That defeat had ended the Americans' world championship winning streak, dating to the 1994 bronze-medal game, at 26, and snapped their string of victories in the Olympics and worlds at 51.

"The Americans played a perfect game," Brazil veteran Janeth dos Santos Arcain said. "Our coaches told us that each team would have one great game and one horrible game. Their horrible game was against Russia and their great game was against us."

Australia and Russia met later in the final.

The final will be Australia's first, while Russia, runner-up in the last two worlds, won six world titles as the Soviet Union, but not since 1983.