U.S. routs Australia to advance to women's basketball semis

Breanna Stewart scored 20 of her 23 points in the first half to help the U.S. beat Australia 79-55 on Wednesday in the quarter-finals.

The Americans will face Serbia on Friday in the semifinals looking to advance to their seventh consecutive gold medal game. The Serbians, who won the bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Games, rallied to beat China 77-70 in the quarter-finals.

For the first time since getting together about three weeks ago the U.S. looked like the dominant team that's won the last six gold medals and 53 consecutive games in the Olympics dating back to the 1992 Barcelona Games.

During the pool games the U.S. got of to slow starts, trailing after the first quarter in each contest. Stewart made sure that wouldn't happen against Australia. Trailing 5-2, she scored seven consecutive points to start a 19-1 run. The Americans led 26-12 after the opening quarter as Australia had 10 turnovers in the period.

Australia was able to get within nine in the second quarter before the U.S. closed the half with a 20-8 run to go up 48-27.

The Opals never threatened in the second half as the lead ballooned behind Brittney Griner, who scored 10 of her 15 points in the third quarter.

The U.S. and Australia are ranked No. 1 and 2 in the world and usually meet later in the Olympics, but the Aussies barely qualified for the quarters. They needed at least a 24-point victory over Puerto Rico in the last game of pool play to advance.

The Opals have never beaten the U.S. in the Olympics, losing to the Americans in the gold medal game in 2000, '04 and '08. The Australians also lost in the semifinals of the 1996 and 2012 Olympics to the U.S.

They were looking for a different outcome in Japan. The teams played in Las Vegas last month in an exhibition game and Australia pulled off the upset victory. Diana Taurasi didn't play in that game as she was recovering from a hip injury.

Leilani Mitchell scored 14 points to lead Australia, which will host the World Championship next year in Sydney.

Serbia defeats China

Ana Dabovic scored nine of her 13 points in the fourth quarter as Serbia to beat China 77-70 Wednesday to reach a second straight semifinals.

The Serbians (3-1) now will play either the United States or Australia in the semifinals on Friday trying to improve on the bronze they won at the 2016 Rio Games.

At the final buzzer, they gathered in a circle on the court and danced before hugging in celebration after rallying from a nine-point deficit for the win. Dabovic helped fuel the comeback with a deep 3-pointer that was closer to the Olympic logo at half court than the 3-point line as Serbia grabbed the momentum with a 12-0 spurt to open the fourth.

China (3-1) went undefeated in pool play and led 58-49 at the end of the third quarter. With Yao Ming watching from the bench, the Chinese missed reaching the semifinals for the first time since the 2008 Beijing Games.

Han Xu's layup tied it up at 70 with 2:13 left. Sonja Vasic hit two free throws with 1:53 to go, giving her nine straight points and putting Serbia ahead to stay.

Jelena Brooks led Serbia with 18 points. Vasic finished with 16 points, nine in the fourth quarter, and also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Shao Ting scored 17 points to lead China. Han added 15, and Li Yueru had 12.

Serbia led 16-14 after the first quarter. Brooks scored 12 points in the second quarter, helping Serbia take a 35-33 lead into halftime. China made 10-of-11 free throws in the third quarter and grabbed its biggest lead at 58-49 going into the fourth.