Women’s Basketball: Team USA Eliminates Canada With Blowout Victory

The men’s version of Team USA is getting the majority of the headlines at the 2012 London Olympics, but the American women have also put together quite an impressive run thus far in their pursuit of the gold medal. That pursuit continued in impressive fashion on Tuesday as the knockout round began, too, as Team USA eliminated Canada with a 91-48 victory.

An impressive individual effort wasn’t exactly required for Team USA in the big win, but veteran leader Diana Taurasi led the way with 15 points for her best game of the Olympics thus far. That type of performance wasn’t necessary for the game against Canada, but head coach Geno Auriemma had to be happy to see Taurasi break out of her funk as they enter the medal rounds.

The rest of the American roster wasn’t bad, either. Sylvia Fowles had 12 points in less than nine minutes to tie Candace Parker as Team USA’s second-best scorers while Maya Moore had a huge fourth quarter to finish with 11 points and seven rebounds.

As far as Canada was concerned, Kim Smith led the way with 13 points as she hit a trio of three-pointers, but it was all for naught as Chelsea Aubry (10 points) was the only other Canadian able to reach a double-figure point total as Canada shot just barely above 30 percent from inside the three-point arc.

Team USA will now meet the winner of Tuesday afternoon’s game between Australia and China for the right to play in the gold medal game on Saturday.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation’s London 2012 Olympics Hub.