BEIJING (AP) - Sylvia Fowles scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds Tuesday to lead the U.S. women's basketball team to a 104-60 rout of South Korea and an Olympic semifinal berth.
It's the sixth straight Olympics that the Americans have advanced to the medal round. The only time they didn't qualify for the semis in the history of women's basketball was in 1980 and that's because the U.S. boycotted the Moscow Games.
The Americans will face Russia in one semifinal Thursday and China plays Australia in the other. Tatiana Shchegoleva scored 19 points as Russia beat Spain 84-65 in a late quarterfinal.
Earlier, Lauren Jackson had 17 points and 12 rebounds to help Australia rout the Czech Republic 79-46 and Miao Lijie had 28 points to lead China past Belarus 77-62.
The U.S. has now won 31 straight games since losing to the Unified team in the semifinals of the 1992 Olympics. The Americans were 5-0 in their pool, winning by an average of 43 points.
On Tuesday, South Korea held tough for the first quarter behind hot shooting. They were 9-for-16 (59 percent) from the field in the period and only were down 25-21 at the end of the period.
Fowles and the U.S. then took over dominating the paint. She was a force on both ends of the floor, giving the Americans second and third attempts with offensive rebounds. On the defensive end she was blocking shots.
The Americans went on a 18-4 run to start the period as Fowles had four points, five rebounds and a block during the spurt. The U.S. outscored South Korea 26-9 in the period and led by 21 at the half.
Any thoughts of a South Korean comeback were quickly dashed when the Americans opened the third quarter with a 15-4 run. The lead ballooned to 41 behind Fowles, who scored nine of her points in the period.
She finished the game 12-for-17 from the field and had eight offensive rebounds. The U.S. outrebounded South Korea 50-24.
"She was dominant tonight," said Kara Lawson, who added 11 points for the U.S. "It's hard to remember that she missed six weeks with that knee injury."
Kim Kwer-yong scored 14 points and Beon Yung-ha and Jung Sun-min each had 13 points to lead South Korea, which advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Latvia to earn the fourth seed in Group A.
It's the fourth straight Olympics that Australia has made the semifinals.
The Aussies suffered a scare in the third quarter when co-captain Penny Taylor sprained her right ankle. She got hurt driving to the basket when she stepped on a Czech player's foot.
"With ankle injuries like that the next 24 hours will be huge," Australia coach Jan Stirling said. "If she's not ready to go, it's part of sport. Someone else will have to step up."
Taylor was helped to the sideline and was grimacing in pain with her head in her hands. Taylor, who finished with eight points, was icing it for the rest of the game at the end of the bench.
"Penny's a huge part of our team and we've got to hope for the best for her," Jackson said. "I don't know what we can do without her so hopefully she'll be OK."
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