Leslie, Griffith dominate inside
RESULTS: United States 102, Greece 72 | Russia 70, Czech Republic 49
Brazil 67, Spain 63 | Australia 94, New Zealand 55
Hushing a boisterous crowd with its all-around domination, the United States advanced to the semifinals Wednesday with a 102-72 victory over Greece, which had heart, the home court and little else.
Friday's game will be a rematch of the 2002 world championships final, which the United States won 79-74 after Russia pulled within a point with 3½ minutes left.
"This is it. No regrets now,'' Tina Thompson said. "There's no getting it back or catching up from a loss. That would mean no gold medal and, for us, no gold medal means failure.''
After playing their preliminary games in a small arena at the Helliniko complex on the coast, the teams moved to the spacious 19,250-seat Olympic Indoor Hall for the medal round. The Americans looked liked they belonged on the bigger stage.
Lisa Leslie and Yolanda Griffith dominated inside, Thompson hit a succession of jumpers, Shannon Johnson had her best game of the tournament and Tamika Catchings was everywhere on both ends of the floor.
The passing was sharp, the defense quick and aggressive. By the middle of the second quarter, the United States was up by 20 and the Greek fans who made up most of the crowd of 8,100 started losing their zeal.
Even the "He-llas! He-llas!'' chant began to wane and the crowd stopped booing whenever the United States had the ball, slipping into a state of quiet acceptance.
These U.S. players, the Greek fans discovered, are pretty darn good.
"The crowd was great today and whenever a team feels the energy of a crowd, it plays above its head and Greece did,'' Diana Taurasi said. "Teams like that just don't go away. They play to the last bucket, but if you can get on them early and get the crowd out of there ... that's what our first five did.''
The Americans shot 57 percent in the first half and 50 percent for the game. If someone did miss a shot, it didn't matter. Griffith, Leslie or Catchings got the rebound and scored on a putback.
Johnson and Thompson scored 20 apiece, and there was much more after that. Griffith had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Diana Taurasi had 13 points, and Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes added 12 apiece. Leslie also had eight rebounds.
Final rebounding numbers: United States 44, Greece 22.
Catchings contributed with her hustle and outstanding defense on Evanthia Maltsi, who had been averaging 20.4 points. Maltsi finished with 15 points but hardly scored while the United States was taking control early.
Anastasia Kostaki led Greece with 26 points.
Unlike most of its previous games, the United States started fast and never let up. Thompson hit a turnaround jumper only 14 seconds into the game, then fed Leslie for a jump hook. Swoopes followed with a baseline jumper to make it 6-0, and the United States led the rest of the way.
Greece got the lead down to 19-17 on Maltsi's 3 from the top of the key, but the United States broke away by ending the quarter with an 8-2 run, then scoring the first 10 points of the second quarter.
Taurasi started that burst with a 3-pointer and Griffith scored the next seven points on a stickback, a three-point play and a layup on a pass from Swoopes.
Johnson's 3-pointer stretched the lead to 51-27 late in the half. Taurasi drew boos when she stole the ball late in the third quarter and passed to Thompson for a 3-pointer that kept the pressure on.
The quarterfinal was a rematch of last year's European Championship final, but Russia had a much easier time Wednesday. In 2003, Russia won 59-56.
Russia took command right away, leading 19-6 at the end of the first quarter after holding the Czech Republic (3-3) to 3-for-17 shooting from the field. The lead was 37-20 at halftime and 56-30 after three quarters.
Korstin, a 6-foot guard who is leading the team in scoring with a 13.8 average, came out of the game for good with 6:54 to play and Russia leading 62-35.
Russia is third in points allowed in the tournament (66.6) behind only the top seeds, the United States and Australia. It held the Czech Republic to 29 percent shooting overall (20-for-68), while forcing 20 turnovers.
Elena Baranova added 15 points for Russia, which finished fifth in the 1996 Olympics and sixth in 2000 competing at the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Petra Kulichova led the Czech Republic with nine points.
The Czech Republic will play Greece for seventh place Friday.
The 35-year-old guard went 6-for-6 from the free throw line over the final 37 seconds and scored 27 points to lead Brazil to a 67-63 victory over Spain on Wednesday night.
Brazil (4-2) will play Australia (6-0) in the semifinals on Friday. Australia beat New Zealand 94-55 in the quarterfinals.
Arcain, who played for Brazil's silver medal team in 1996 and the bronze medalists in 2000, kept Spain (3-3) at a four-point deficit with each of three pair of free throws in the final 37 seconds.
Iziane Marques broke the game's final tie and gave Brazil a 61-59 lead with two free throws with 57 seconds to play.
Alessandra Oliveira blocked a shot by Spain's Laia Palau with 40 seconds left, and Arcain made two free throws 3 seconds later to make it 63-59.
Marta Fernandez of Spain made two free throws with 27 seconds left, and she scored on a drive with 11 seconds to play. But Arcain was good from the line twice to keep Brazil enough in front by enough so Spain never had a chance to tie the game again.
Arcain, who played for the Houston Comets, finished 11-for-12 from the line and is 24-for-30 from there for the tournament.
Oliveira had eight points and eight rebounds for Brazil, which finished with a 43-22 advantage on the boards.
Fernandez had 16 points for Spain.
Brazil set a women's Olympic record for points and tied one for margin of victory in its opening 128-62 win over Japan. It came into the game averaging 86 points per game, tied for the United States for No. 1 in the tournament.
Spain finished fifth in 1992, its only other Olympic appearance.
Australia (6-0) will play Brazil (4-2) in the semifinals Friday. Brazil beat Spain 67-63 in the quarterfinals. Australia and Brazil have won the silver and bronze medals in the last two Olympics. Australia won the bronze in 1996 and the silver in 2000.
The 6-foot-5 Jackson scored six points -- a three-point play and a 3-pointer -- in Australia's 10-0 run to open the game. The WNBA's MVP last season with the Seattle Storm dominated inside as Australia beat New Zealand (2-4) for the 23rd straight time. The other games were all in regional competition as this was the first-ever meeting between the countries in either the Olympics or World Championships.
It was the second all-Oceania basketball game in as many days. Tuesday, Australia beat New Zealand 98-80 to finish ninth in the men's tournament.
Gina Farmer had 15 points and Donna Loffhagen added 13 points and 11 rebounds for New Zealand, which finished 11th in its Olympic debut four years ago.
Australia led 45-31 at halftime and the lead reached 30 points for the first time at 66-36 with 4 minutes left in the third quarter. Australia finished with a 54-25 rebounds advantage and held New Zealand to 27 percent shooting (17-for-64).
The game was a reunion for New Zealand coach Tom Maher and the Australian program he headed for eight years, including the last two Olympics. He left after the Sydney Games to become the first foreign coach in the WNBA but he lasted just one season with the Washington Mystics.
Current Australia coach Jan Sterling had replaced him, so he took over the other program in the Oceania region.
Jackson entered the game as the tournament's leading scorer at 23.4 points per game.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press
