Olympics: Leslie leads U.S. women to another golden finish

BEIJING — Lisa Leslie and the U.S. women's basketball team were once again too good for Australia at the Olympics.

Leslie capped off her illustrious Olympic career with a fourth straight gold medal, scoring 14 points in a 92-65 victory against Australia on Saturday night. She joined former teammate Teresa Edwards as the only basketball players ever to win four gold medals.

"It's a blessing for me to be out on this floor, now participating in my fourth Olympics and walking away with a fourth gold medal," Leslie said.

Russia took the bronze medal, beating host China 94-81 as Becky Hammon scored 22 points.

The Aussies have now lost to the Americans in the gold medal game in the past three Olympics, with all three defeats coming by double-digit margins.

"We weren't going to be the team to let Lisa lose," said Candace Parker, who added 14 points. "We wouldn't let her Olympic career end that way."

Australia figured this was its best shot to beat the Americans. Penny Taylor and Erin Phillips missed the first half of the WNBA season to train for the Beijing Games. Lauren Jackson left the Seattle Storm two weeks before the Olympic break to join her teammates.

Even with their extra training and Taylor returning to the starting lineup after missing the semifinals with a sprained right ankle, the Australians just couldn't match the U.S. team's depth. The American reserves outscored the Aussies 59-11.

"We've said from day one that top to bottom we are a deep team," said Kara Lawson, who led the U.S. with 15 points. "We just send wave after wave of players at you."

She was 5-for-5 from the field and helped the American reserves outscore Australia's 59-11.

"We weren't going to be the team to let Lisa lose," said Parker, who added 14 points. "We wouldn't let her Olympic career end that way."

Trailing 13-10 late in the first quarter, U.S. coach Anne Donovan inserted her second unit, led by Lawson. Once again, the bench delivered just as it had throughout the Olympics with Lawson scoring the first six points of a 12-2 run to close the quarter as the U.S. took a 22-15 lead.