Bird had five assists against China, her Olympics high. Garrett W. Elwood/NBAE

For the U.S., their game against China was essentially a meaningless win, as their victory over Spain Friday secured a first-place finish in Group B. Still, veteran forward Sheryl Swoopes told CNBC's Craig Sager that the U.S. women were treating this game as if it was for the gold medal. The intensity might not have been at that level, but it was strong throughout as the U.S. women blew out China - a surprising group-play casualty after finishing at 1-4 - by a 100-62 final, their highest-scoring effort of the Athens Games thus far.

The first quarter saw the U.S. women get off to arguably their best start in group play, trailing only by a 3-2 count after an early Chinese three and building a 14-point lead by period's end. The U.S. continued to play well in the second quarter, and its lead ballooned to 20 points at halftime, by which point the game was fundamentally decided. Showing no signs of letting up, the U.S. outscored China in both the third and fourth quarters as well to complete the 38-point win.

After U.S. Coach Van Chancellor tightened up his rotation in the close win over Spain, he turned to his bench again Sunday, and it responded with a tremendous performance. Guard Diana Taurasi came off the bench to lead the U.S. women with 19 points, while fellow reserve Yolanda Griffith added 15 points and 11 rebounds, making seven of her nine shot attempts. The reserves combined to outscore the starters 58-42, with Bird chipping in four points and five assists in her 17 minutes of action, including a gorgeous no-look pass to former UConn teammate Swin Cash on one fastbreak.

Center Lisa Leslie, the Americans' top threat throughout the Olympics, had 17 points and eight rebounds in just 19 minutes of action. Swoopes contributed 13 points. Li Ye led four Chinese players in double-figures with 19 points of her own off the bench.

The U.S. women had one of their best shooting performances in Athens, shooting 51.8% from the field, while continuing to dominate the boards, outrebounding China 46-20, including 22 offensive boards.

The only bad news for the U.S. came when reserve guard Katie Smith, who missed the first two games of the Olympics because of a knee contusion, injured her right knee again on defense during the first quarter. Smith left the game for the locker room and returned in a wheelchair, her day over. The injury was initially diagnosed as a sprain, but more will be known after an MRI is completed tomorrow.

"I kind of planted and turned and felt something," Smith said. "I really won't know anything until tomorrow when I have an MRI."

While the U.S. had already wrapped up first place in Group B, Australia still needed to beat Brazil or lose by less than about 14 points to take first in Group A. Given Brazil was considered one of the favorites in Group A along with Australia and Russia, that was hardly a given, though the Brazilians did suggest before the game that they might prefer letting Australia take first place to finish third themselves and avoid a potential matchup with the U.S. until the finals.

Brazil, which entered the game at 3-1, got off to a strong start, leading 21-20 after one quarter. Slowly, the Opals wrested control of the game, taking a five-point lead to halftime and a nine-point advantage to the fourth quarter. They continued to play well down the stretch, officially securing first place in Group A with an 84-66 victory.

As she has throughout the Olympics, Jackson, the Games' leading scorer at 23.4 points per game, led the Aussies. She finished with 24 points on 8-for-16 shooting and added seven rebounds. Penny Taylor added 15 points, and the veterans in the Australian starting lineup, Trish Fallon and Kristi Harrower, scored 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Four Brazilians also scored double-figures, led by Helen Luz's 16 points. One-time Storm post Alessandra Santos de Oliveira had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the game's only double-double, but Australia held Brazilian star Janeth Arcain, who entered the game averaging 19.3 points per game, to 10 points on 5-for-16 shooting. As a team, Brazil shot 36.6% as Australia clamped down defensively.

Both the U.S. and Australia will take two days off before Wednesday's quarterfinals, where they will play the fourth-place finisher from the opposite bracket. For the U.S., that's host Greece, which held on for a 92-90 victory Japan on Sunday to earn a berth in the medal round. Australia faces neighbor New Zealand, like Greece a somewhat surprising entrant in the quarterfinals. While every game begins to count in the single-elimination portion of the tournament, the opposite team's performance against the opponents tend to indicate neither U.S. nor Australia should really be challenged Wednesday: The U.S. beat New Zealand by 52 points in its Olympics opener, while Australia crushed Greece by 37 points on Friday.