Diana Taurasi leads U.S. women to 48-point win over China

LONDON -- More offensive fireworks were on display at the basketball venue -- this time courtesy of the U.S. women.

The Americans tied their Olympic scoring mark in a 114-66 rout of China Sunday and set a couple of other U.S. records along the way.

Just days after the U.S. men shattered the Olympic records for points in a game, the women put on their own show.

"We've got a lot of good offensive players," U.S. coach Geno Auriemma said. "When everything is clicking and they're in sync and the ball's moving like it was today, we're a fun team to watch and hopefully everyone who was watching enjoyed it."

Diana Taurasi scored 22 as the women matched the 114 points they scored against Spain in 1992, and fell well short of the women's Olympic mark of 128 points set by Brazil in 2004.

The band of All-Stars also set American Olympic records with 33 assists that led to another team milestone of 52 baskets.

"This team takes tremendous pride in sharing the ball and we got good passers and finishers," he said. "It's a great testament to them and how much they are more interested in winning instead of who credits about scoring the most points."

Six players scored in double figures and 10 of the 12 had an assist.

"This team is so unselfish," said Tamika Catchings, who led the United States with seven assists. "It becomes contagious."

China was able to hang with the United States for a quarter behind its own hot shooting before the Americans turned the game into a blowout with a huge second-quarter run.

The victory was the Americans' 38th straight in Olympic play and gave them the top seed in the group for the quarterfinals. The United States will meet its northern neighbor Canada Tuesday.

The other quarterfinal matchups will be undefeated France against the Czech Republic; Australia plays China; and Russia will meet Turkey.

The Americans (5-0) haven't lost a game in the preliminary round since 1976 -- the first time that women's basketball was played in the Olympics.

China got the scoring started early, hitting 10 of its first 15 shots. China led 28-25 with 1:25 left in the first quarter after Song Xiaoyun hit a deep three-pointer from way behind the top of the key.

But then the Americans took over and took off, turning up their defensive pressure.

The four-time defending gold medalists went on a 29-6 run over the next 9 minutes to take control of the game.

Sylvia Fowles played for the first time after missing the previous three games to rest a sore left foot. She started the second quarter and made an immediate impact with four points and one massive block in just four minutes.

"It felt great to be back out there playing," Fowles said. "This game was a lot of fun to play in."