Betfair Official Blog

Women's Basketball: USA matching the efforts of the men

Nick Shiambouros looks at the betting in the women's competition with Becky Hammon looming for favourites USA.

It was a case of anything you can do I can do better for Team USA as the American women battered Korea 104-60 to book their place in the semi-finals to show the men that they are just as determined to bring back the gold medal from Beijing as they are.

Sylvia Fowles scored 26 points for the Americans and this was a good performance from this very talented centre. Team USA took a while to get going but they put on a show in the second half and took Korea apart with some great ball distribution and superb transition offense.

The Americans are slowly coming to the boil now that the winning post is in site but coach Anne Donovan will take nothing for granted as they prepare to meet Russia in the semi-final on Thursday.

Russia beat Spain in a very entertaining contest 84-65 but this was definitely not the one sided affair it looks, as the Russians fell behind in the first quarter by 11 points and only managed to cut the deficit to eight at half time. Amaya Valderomo led the scoring for Spain and deep in to the second quarter looked like they might cause the upset but a certain lady from South Dakota called Becky Hammon led the Russian comeback with some outstanding ball distribution and scoring from the three point line. Russian superstar Maria Stepanova and Tatiana Schegoleva both benefited from Hammon's brilliant passing scoring 31 points between them.

Playing for the Russians was a very difficult decision for Hammon to make but she felt that this was the only way to play in the Olympic games as she was not selected for team USA. Apparently the process was easy for Hammon to obtain Russian citizenship and the whole process took less than a year to complete for the 31-year-old who plays for CSKA in the off season and San Antonio in the WNBA. Based on this effort against Spain, Hammon would make any team on the planet as a starter and she is now in a very difficult place having to play against her own country in the semi-finals of the Olympic games.

I think team USA will beat Russia in the semi-final but both teams will be fired up for this encounter and this game has all the hallmarks of a classic encounter especially with the presence of Becky Hammon. The Americans are trading at [1.32] for the gold medal but probably won't be a lot shorter unless there is a upset in the other semi-final between Australia and China.

Australia, led by top scorer Lauren Jackson, thrashed the Czech Republic 79-46 in a low scoring affair but Penny Taylor sprained her ankle and this gifted player has only 24 hours to recover and this would be a severe blow to Australia if she cannot line up for the semi-final.

In another international twist former Australian national team coach Tom Maher led China to victory over Belarus 77-62 and is looking forward to the semi-final against Australia on Thursday. Maher certainly knows a lot of the Australian players but I really think that they will come up short against a very solid and defensively sound unit in Australia.

I think it will be USA versus Australia for the gold medal game and my money will be on team USA for gold. I think they should trade at around [1.26] for the final which appears fair but I think it will be a low scoring affair but a fascinating encounter in prospect. Once again this gold medal is at the mercy of team USA.

You can find out more about the story of Becky Hammon at http://www.beckyhammon.com and women's professional basketball at http://www.wnba.com.