Australia has recorded an easy 74-58 win over host nation Great Britain in its opening Olympics women's basketball game.
Opals star Lauren Jackson led the way with 18 points, while veteran Suzy Batkovic chimed in with 12 as Australia dominated from start to finish against an outmatched British side.
Australia led at every quarter as Jackson and fellow star Liz Cambage dominated a host side roared on by a partisan crowd.
The Opals face a tougher test next time out against Group B opponent France, which downed Brazil 73-58 in its opener.
Meanwhile, the US its Olympics winning streak to 34 games spanning 20 years with an 81-56 win against Croatia, but it is not a streak that matters to coach Geno Auriemma.
"Right now, the only winning streak that we're talking about is try to win one in a row, eight times. If we can get that streak, then we'll be really happy," Auriemma said about a stretch of victories that would clinch London gold.
"We're not going to think about what the other teams did in the Olympics.
"That's not who we are, that was somebody else."
Winners of the last four Olympic titles since their last Games loss in 1992, the US survived a scare on the opening day of competition from Croatia, which is competing in the Olympic women's tournament for the first time.
The Americans led by just three points at intermission and by 53-47 going into the final quarter before pulling away as they wore down the game Croats with their depth of talent.
"It's the 12 best players in the world," Croatian coach Stipe Bralic said.
"Maybe the best women's team in the world ever.
"We played very well for 30, 32 minutes. But it's a 40-minute game."
In other results, EuroBasket champion Russia closed with an 18-3 run to overtake Canada 58-53, Turkey beat Angola 72-50 and China claimed a 66-57 win over the Czech Republic, silver medallists at the last world championships.
ABC/Reuters
Tags: olympics-summer, sport, basketball, england, united-kingdom, australia First posted July 29, 2012 09:24:44
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