Team USA enters the basketball court with Australia today in hopes to advance to Saturday's gold medal final.
For the American team, they go in undefeated during the 2012 London Summer Olympics, but they'll be facing the silver medal Australian team from the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. For the Australians, it is redemption as they won silver due to a US victory four years ago.
The Australians do have one ace in their cards with 6-foot-5 Lauren Jackson, notable for being in the WNBA's Seattle Storm. Jackson became the all-time leading scorer in women's Olympic basketball history with 536 points, spanning four Olympics. Just recently she scored 17 points in the 75-60 win over China.
"I am happy, obviously, it's something that's nice, but I hope we win Thursday," said Jackson, ahead of the US match.
"She's one of my good friends," said Team USA's Sue Bird about fellow Seattle Storm, teammate Jackson. "I'm happy for her. But I still want to beat her."
The US, the four-time defending gold medalists, won their spot in the semifinal after convincingly defeating northern neighbor Canada, 91-48. The win was Team USA's 39th consecutive victory in Olympic play and exactly 20 years since the start of the streak at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics when they defeated Cuba for the bronze medal.
"We know we have a standard to uphold, and [we want to] honor the past Olympians and be role models for the future ones," Candace Parker said. "We want to continue to play the way we were brought up in the USA basketball system.
The Team USA vs. Australia game starts at 12 p.m. EDT
Team USA Roster:
Seimone Augutus - Minnesota Lynx
Sue Bird - Seattle Storm
Swin Cash - Chicago Sky
Tamika Catchings - Indiana Fever
Tina Charles - Connecticut Sun
Sylvia Fowles - Chicago Sky
Asjha Jones - Connecticut Sun
Angel McCoughtry - Atlanta Dream
Maya Moore - Minnestoa Lynx
Candace Parker - Los Angeles Sparks
Diana Taurasi - Phoenix Mercury
Lindsay Whalen - Minnestoa Lynx
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