The Australian “Price Attack” Opals and the USA Basketball Senior Women’s National Team moved one step closer to a possible showdown in the Olympics gold-medal game Wednesday, both teams cruising through their quarterfinal games to move to 6-0 in the Olympics.

Jackson scored 28 points in just 23 minutes. Stuart Franklin/Getty

The U.S. women squared off against host Greece, bringing a passionate crowd of 8,100 to the Olympic Indoor Hall. The U.S. quieted the crowd early, scoring the game’s first six points and leading 19-10 during the first quarter, but Greece responded with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to two. That was the closest the margin would get, as the U.S. answered with an 18-2 run to push the lead to 18 points. At halftime, the U.S. women led 55-34, and the game was basically decided. The Americans barely let up after halftime, outscoring Greece 47-38 to finish off a 102-72 victory.

Offensively, the U.S. may have played its best game of the Olympics. Turnovers have been a problem throughout that span, but the U.S. women had just 10 against Greece. They also shot 50% from the field and 40% from three-point range, where they have struggled. When the U.S. did miss, they had players in position to secure the rebound, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds to Greece’s 19 defensive boards. All told, the U.S. scored 102 points on approximately 78 possessions, or 130.8 points per 100 possessions. Only once this season has a WNBA team topped that mark (the Storm scored 138 points per 100 possessions against Charlotte on 8/1).

The U.S. did it with balance. Six players scored double-figures, including three reserves (combined, the bench outscored the starters 54-48). For the second straight game, a backup guard led the team in scoring. This time, it was Shannon Johnson, who broke out of a 4-for-18 shooting slump to score 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting and hit a trio of three-pointers. Diana Taurasi, who led the U.S. in scoring Sunday, added 13 points as she continues to effectively replace Katie Smith, who is out for the Olympics with a knee injury, and Yolanda Griffith scored 11 of her 14 points in the decisive second quarter, pulling down 11 rebounds for the game’s only double-double.

Forward Tina Thompson led the starters with 20 points, hitting eight of her 13 shots. Olympics veterans Sheryl Swoopes and Lisa Leslie added 12 points apiece, Leslie pulling down eight rebounds.

While struggling to stop the U.S. defensively, the Greek team was impressive on offense, shooting 49.1% from the field and hitting nine three-pointers.

“They gave us as many problems on offense for our defense as any team we've played so far, including the games in the 2002 World Championship in China,” said U.S. Coach Van Chancellor. “We could not stop them today; their offense was great.”

Guard Anastasia Kostaki led Greece with 26 points and eight assists, shooting 8-for-13 from the field. Forward Evanthia Maltsi, one of the leading scorers and rebounders in group play, scored 15 points but was limited to just one rebound. Center Maria Samoroukova added 10 points and seven rebounds, and Dimitra Kalentzou came off the bench to hit four threes and score 12 points.

The Opals were possibly more dominant against their trans-Tasman rivals, New Zealand. Like the U.S., Australia never trailed, and they outscored New Zealand by double-digits in three of the four quarters en route to a 94-55 rout that was the largest margin of the day . While the Americans have been balanced on offense throughout the Olympics, the Aussie offense has gone through Lauren Jackson. With her size advantage against the Tall Ferns, that did not change today. Playing just 23 minutes – she’s averaged just 27 minutes per game thus far, good news for the Storm – Jackson still had time to score 28 points on 10-for-15 shooting and grab nine rebounds.

New Zealand simply had no answer for Jackson. They did little better on offense. Australia held the Tall Ferns to 26.6% shooting, and leading scorer Angela Marino – who grew up and lives in Australia – missed 11 of her 12 field-goal attempts and both free throws she tried, scoring two points. The Opals also owned the glass, outrebounding New Zealand 54-25.

Phoenix Mercury forward Penny Taylor was again Australia’s second-leading scorer, scoring 12 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Veteran Trish Fallon scored 11 points, and Belinda Snell came off the bench to pull down 10 boards. Donna Loffhagen had 13 points and 11 rebounds for New Zealand, and Gina Farmer scored 15 points.

Russia blitzed the Czech Republic in one quarterfinal, taking a double-digit lead in the first quarter and never being seriously threatened while winning 71-49. In the other, Brazil and Spain played the day’s only competitive game, with Brazil prevailing 67-63. The final four teams played out largely as expected, with the top three teams from Group A and only the U.S. from Group B advancing. Australia and Brazil will play Friday in one semifinal for the second time in six days, with Australia winning 84-66 Sunday in a game Brazil may have been happy to lose in order to avoid a potential matchup with the U.S. until the gold-medal game.

The other semifinal pits the U.S. and Russia against each other, a rematch of the 2002 World Championship gold-medal game that frightens Chancellor.

“Russia's depth really worries me,” he said. “They have a lot of players, I think that's the one team that our depth would not hurt. I think that it's their overall size. No. 10 for them [Ilona Korstine] has really been a problem. She's really hurt us in the past, she's a young player who plays really well.”