Wild photo shows just how close Gabby Williams came to pushing Team USA to the brink

Much like Gabby Williams will haunt the dreams of every WNBA star on Team USA women's basketball, she will have nightmares about her last-second heroic effort to send the gold medal game to overtime.

Williams had a tremendous game overall, scoring 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting. The defensive effort from both teams was the main storyline, as France and USA were tied at 25 after the second quarter. The Americans would squeak out a 67-66 win by mere inches. Had Williams foot been behind the line on this final attempt (which went in, by the way!), the French would have forced overtime.

The full sequence is painful to watch from either side of the Atlantic. While the Americans were the victors, the contest was far too close for comfort, and Team USA's streak of seven straight gold medals in this event (at the time) was in serious jeopardy. In fact, both the men's and women's basketball teams for the United States won by surprisingly-narrow margins, which says a lot about the state of the international game.

One photo says a lot about Gabby Williams last-second heave

Williams very nearly sent this game to overtime, and given how close these two teams played the majority of the contest they might still be competing.

The metric system jokes were abundant, as were the comparisons to an infamous Kevin Durant shot in the NBA Playoffs.

Despite the eight straight golds, the United States women's national team is often overlooked by fans and media alike due to the star power of the men's team. However, the recent popularity growth by the WNBA thanks to an influx of new superstars from the college game should reverberate across the women's basketball world, including on Team USA and internationally.

Clearly, the talent gap which once existed between the Americans and their competition is shrinking. The next generation -- which includes stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese -- has quite the standard to uphold.

Good luck.