The US women’s basketball team is into the semifinals. Sylvia Fowles led the charge for the US team in the 104-60 rout against South Korea. Fowles made 26 points from the field and added another 14 rebounds. The win by the US team is the sixth Olympics that they have advanced to the medal round. The last time that the US women’s basketball team failed to qualify for the semifinals of the Olympics was in 1980 and this was the time when the US boycotted the Moscow Games.

With the win, the American women will face Russia in the semifinals. In the other semifinal game, China will play Australia. Russia advanced to the semifinals after winning over Spain 84-65. Tatiana Shchegoleva led the Russian team and scored 19 points. Australia on the other hand was led by Lauren Jackson who made 17 points and another 12 rebounds and beat Czech Republic. China on the other hand defeated Belarus for a place in the semifinals.

The win by the US women’s team was the team’s 31^st straight games since the team’s losing effort in the semifinals against the Unified Team in the 1992 Olympics. The win against South Korea was their 5^th straight Beijing games and all their wins were fashioned in a spectacular way. The only exception was in the game against Czech Republic where the Team US trailed in the first three minutes 13-2 before it went on to win the match by 40 points. The US Team also encountered rough sailing against Spain as they only led by five after the half. But after the halftime break, the team posted an easy 38 point victory.

The South Korean squad made an impression at the first quarter behind their hot shooting, and shot 59 percent from the field and at the end of the first quarter they were only behind by four. The start of the second quarter was different as Fowles started the charge.