SAO PAULO, Brazil — There will be no world championships gold for either U.S. basketball team this year.

Russia beat the two-time defending champion United States 75-68 in the semifinals of the women’s world championships on Thursday night.

Three weeks ago, the U.S. men’s team, with its roster of NBA stars, was beaten 101-95 by Greece in the semifinals and settled for a disappointing bronze medal.

Their WNBA counterparts will have to beat the host country on Saturday to match that.

“It’s very disappointing and I’m glad that we actually have a day in between to be able to reflect back on what we did wrong,” forward Sheryl Swoopes said. “It’s going to be hard, knowing that we’re not going to be playing for the gold medal. I think everybody is disappointed, from the coaching staff, the players, everybody here. But I know that nobody wants to go home without a medal. Even though that’s not going to be gold, not going to be silver, I don’t want to go home empty-handed.”

The loss snapped the Americans’ 26-game winning streak in this event. Five players — Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Katie Smith and Swoopes — were on this team and the 2002 championship team.

Russia took advantage of poor shooting and sloppy ball-handling by the U.S. to take a 58-38 lead after three quarters. The Americans closed to 73-68 with 45 seconds left, but after two missed free throws by Oxana Rakhmatulina with 30 seconds to go, the U.S. took up almost all of the 24-second shot clock and Candace Parker missed a layup with 12 seconds left.

Ilona Korstin made two free throws with 10 seconds to go and Russia (5-3) advanced to Saturday’s gold medal game against Australia (8-0), which beat Brazil 88-76 in the other semifinal.

“They came out and shot better than they had all tournament,” U.S. coach Anne Donovan said. “This was the time when you have to step up and perform and I thought Russia did a great job with that tonight. Hats off to them. We made valiant runs a couple of times deep into the game, in the fourth quarter twice, but Russia’s lead was too great for us to come back.”

The U.S. finished 27-for-70 from the field (38.5 percent) and committed 16 turnovers. The Americans entered the semifinals averaging 86.7 points on 48.5 percent shooting and had an average margin of victory of 30.3 per game.

The United States’ last loss in the world championships was to Brazil, 110-107, in the semifinals in 1994. The U.S. had won 51 straight games in the world championships and Olympics dating to that loss.

The U.S. (7-1) beat Russia 90-80 in the first round. The United States, which has won seven world championships, entered the tournament ranked No. 1 by FIBA, while Russia was No. 2.

Diana Taurasi had six points in the United States’ 13-2 run to open the fourth quarter. Russia had the lead back to 73-58 with 21⁄2 minutes to go, but the United States’ full-court pressure allowed it to get back within 73-68 on a 3-pointer by Sue Bird with 45 seconds to go.

Taurasi finished with 21 points, while Tina Thompson had 15 and Parker 13.

Rakhmatulina had 18 points for Russia, which lost to the U.S. in the last two world championship gold medal games. Maria Stepanova, Russia’s 6-foot-8 center, added 13 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

“We had many shots that hit the rim that we just didn’t finish,” Donovan said. “I think that Stepanova did a great job, she was probably in our minds even when she wasn’t close to the ball. I think it affected our shooting down low. ... It was just one of those games, it was not our night.”

Russia shot 46.5 percent (27-for-58) and was 8-for-14 from 3-point range with Rakhmatulina going 3-for-5.

Penelope Taylor scored 26 points and Belinda Snell added 22 for Australia, which won the bronze medal in the 2002 world championships.