Women's Basketball Day 6 Review: Knockout round costs Australia a pretty Penny

(BEIJING, August 19) -- As predicted, the Women's Basketball semifinal qualifiers will be the United States, Australia and Russia, with China as the wild card fourth addition. What no one could anticipate was that Australia would suffer an injury to one of its star players, 2006 World Championship Most Valuable Player Penny Taylor.

Australia made it through to the semifinals on Tuesday, August 19, but the injury to star forward Taylor has curbed any celebrations. The Opals beat the Czech Republic 79-46, but in the process Taylor sprained her right ankle as she drove into the lane to draw a foul early in the third quarter. The tragedy of it is that Australia was leading by a comfortable 21-point margin at the time. Taylor was assisted to the bench where she remained until the end of the match. Scott Burne, Australia's team doctor, had some comforting thoughts. "In Brazil, two years ago, we brought Kristi Harrower back from a similar injury in only one day. Now we have two days to the semifinal."

This injury could be more welcome news to China, who was the first team of the day through to the semifinals and is set to face Australia next. Captain Miao Lijie led her team with a tournament-high 28 points past Belarus for a 77-62 win. China led throughout the match, by as much as 22 points midway through the third quarter, but found it difficult to put away the bigger Belarus team. Belarus used its size to dominate on the boards and out-rebounded China 41-22.

The United States eliminated the Republic of Korea with a 104-60 defeat, led by 26 points and 14 rebounds from Sylvia Fowles' 21 minutes. Fowles said the key to winning against the ROK was defense, an area where she shines. "Defense is my bread and butter," Fowles said. "That's where I have fun."

The United States will face Russia in the semifinal, after the World No. 3 team came back from a first half setback to defeat Spain 84-65. Russia managed to convert an 18-point loss to a 19-point lead. Spanish guard Isabel Sanchez commented after the game about the change in pace between the first and second halves. "We said in the locker room that they played badly in the first half and if we didn't pressure, they would start scoring," remarked Sanchez. "We played at the same intensity in the second half as the first, and they played well and caught up."

The two semifinal matches of the Olympic Women's Basketball tournament will be played on Thursday, August 21.