US survives 66-62 win over Russia
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-08-27 22:34

The United States survived a last- quarter storm-back of Russia to win 66-62 in a women's basketball semi-final Friday.

The defending champions entered the final, waiting for the winners of the match between Brazil and Australia.

Russia closed the game at 60-58 with 4:23 left on Oxana Rakhmatulina's 3-pointer, but Sheryl Swoops initiated a 6-0 run to put the game out of touch.

After a timeout with 2:34 to go, Russia lost two defensive rebounds to let the Americans taking fully advantage of the 24- second attacking clock.

Tatiana Shchegoleva, who played in all the 40 minutes, led Russia with 13 points, five rebounds and five steals.

Tina Thompson had a game-high 14 points for the US.