I need to lift my game, says Aussie captain

BEIJING (Reuters) - Australia captain Lauren Jackson has admitted she needs to lift her game despite another easy win for the women's basketball world champions on Wednesday.

The Opals crushed South Korea 90-62 with Jackson contributing 16 points in the team's third straight victory at the Beijing Games.

"I've been playing like crap," Jackson told Reuters. "Every game is about playing better and I need to get better personally and get the confidence in my game back.

"But I've got great team mates. They're working their butts off."

Guard Penny Taylor and centre Suzy Batkovic had 18 points apiece to lead Australia, who are bidding to prevent the United States from winning their fourth Olympic title in a row.

Australian coach Jan Stirling paid tribute to the Koreans after the Group A victory.

"Korea just never go away," she said. "All credit to them. They're a wonderful team."

Stirling rejected the notion that the Australians and Americans, the two superpowers of women's basketball, were the only two teams in the gold medal hunt in Beijing.

TWO-HORSE RACE

"People can perceive it's a two-horse race," said Stirling. "But neither I or (American coach) Anne Donovan feel like that. We still have a lot of hard yards to do."

The U.S were playing Mali in Wednesday's late game in Group

B.

"Girl power" again succeeded where Yao Ming's brute force has so far failed for China's men, the Olympic hosts beating New Zealand 80-63 for their second Group B win.

China took control early after a bizarre start when they raced to the wrong end of the court after losing the tip-off and gifted New Zealand a free lay-up, which they missed.

Centre Chen Nan top-scored for the Chinese with 26 points, while captain Miao Lijie added 15 to push the hosts to the brink of the quarter-finals.

"If we get an upset somewhere and a medal that would be great," said China's Australian coach Tom Maher. "It's not unrealistic."

European champions Russia were the first team to book a quarter-final spot with a 71-65 Group A victory over Belarus while Latvia squeezed past Brazil 79-78 for their first win.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)