U.S. women put Mali to the sword

BEIJING (Reuters) - Title favorites the United States showed Olympic first-timers Mali no mercy in the women's basketball on Wednesday, pulverizing the Africans 97-41.

U.S. coach Anne Donovan said her team were only focused on what immediately lay ahead of them and not automatically assuming the final would be between the United States and world champions Australia.

The United States stand to win their fourth Olympic title in a row.

"We are not thinking about Australia and that's an honest answer. That's the best part about this team -- they really stay in the moment," said Donovan.

"There's no script that says Australia and the United States are going to be in that gold medal game," she said.

Captain Lisa Leslie put spark into the U.S. performance with 16 points while four other players reached double figures.

Australian captain Lauren Jackson was highly critical of herself after the world champions crushed South Korea 90-62 to post their third win and book a quarter-final spot.

"I've been playing like crap," said Jackson, who contributed 16 points. "But I've got great team mates. They're working their butts off."

Guard Penny Taylor and centre Suzy Batkovic had 18 points apiece.

The Australians were also keen to play down suggestions the two superpowers of women's basketball were the only teams in the gold medal hunt.

"People can perceive it's a two-horse race," said Australian coach Jan Stirling. "But neither I nor Anne Donovan feel like that. We still have a lot of hard yards to do."

"Girl power" triumphed once more where the brute force of Yao Ming has so far failed for China's men, the hosts outgunning New Zealand 80-63 to close in on a place in the last eight.

China took control early after a bizarre start when they raced to the wrong end of the court after losing the tip-off and handed 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.

"If we could sneak in somehow and get 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.

(Editing by Ralph Gowling)