U.S. women smother Canada, advance to semifinals

London, England – Diana Taurasi scored 15 points to lead the United States to a 91-48 win over Canada in the quarterfinals of the women's Olympic basketball tournament on Tuesday.

Candace Parker had 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds for the Americans, who extended their Olympic winning streak to 39 games. The streak began 20 years ago Tuesday against Cuba in the bronze medal game.

Sylvia Fowles matched Parker with 12 points, while Angel McCoughtry and Maya Moore supplied 11 points apiece for the four-time defending Olympic champions.

"Going into the game, we as coaches were very aware that every game that Canada has played in this tournament, two or three possessions in each of those games could have affected the game," said Team USA head coach Geno Auriemma. "They were in every game to the end, and their style of play makes you play at their pace, gets you caught up in their style of ball control and limiting how many opportunities you get. So we talked a lot about how we wanted to create the tempo that we wanted and I think right from the beginning we did that, and it just continued the whole game."

Team USA will face Australia in the semifinals on Thursday. The Australians, who beat China by 15 points, have lost in three consecutive gold medal games.

Kim Smith scored 13 points to pace Canada, which went 2-3 in the preliminary round.

The Americans got off to a slow start offensively, missing their first six shots from inside the arc, but a suffocating defense limited Canada to just eight points in the first quarter.

A 19-8 lead after 10 minutes ballooned to 42-21 at halftime, and the United States was up 68-31 heading into the fourth quarter.

Team USA forced 26 turnovers, leading to 33 points, and outscored Canada 48-12 in the paint.

The United States and Canada met at the Olympics for the first time since the 1984 semifinals.