Another game, another victory, just not in overly typical fashion. Team USA was never at its best Thursday evening, but an 86-67 win over France keeps the hopes and expectations for gold alive.

Led by Diana Taurasi’s 18-point, five-rebound, four-assist performance in the semifinals, Team USA is now one win away from its sixth-straight Olympic gold medal. Although closer, and perhaps sloppier, than usual, the result was all that mattered when the final buzzer sounded in Rio de Janeiro.

“Before the game we said ‘It’s not going to be easy. This is always the hardest game,’’ Taurasi told NBC Sports. “France is a hell of a team. They fight, they play well, and today they were amazing. But in the second half we found a way and that shows a lot from our team.”

Playing without starting point guard Sue Bird, who is listed as day-to-day with a right knee injury suffered in Tuesday’s quarterfinal win over Japan, Team USA was out of sorts at times offensively, committing 18 turnovers, while France continued to scrap and remain close.

Team USA trailed by a tournament-high four points in the first quarter, and took a narrow 40-36 lead into halftime.

However, a strong second half, including a dominant third quarter — outscoring France 25-8 — kept a safe distance to advance.

“We came out a little bit tight offensively. Thank goodness for our defense to be able to keep us in the game,” Team USA wing Elena Della Donne said to the network. “We were able to kind of take a deep breath at half and get back to playing our basketball.”

Taurasi led five Team USA players in double figures. Maya Moore added 15 points, Sylvia Fowles scored 12, and Brittney Griner and Seimone Augustus, who started for Bird, each chipped in 10.

Isabelle Yacoubou and Marine Johannes led France with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Team USA will face Spain in the finals Saturday at 1:30 p.m. CST.