Another easy win for American women

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BEIJING, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Tina Thompson scored 13 points during a 23-point, first-period run Monday and the United States went on to crush China 108-63 in women's Olympic basketball.

The victory officially put the Americans in the quarterfinals, although that was a foregone conclusion before the start of the tournament.

China held an 11-10 advantage early in the first quarter but the Americans scored the final 23 points of the period.

Thompson led the way with 27 points in the game and Sylvia Fowles added 18 for the Americans, who became the first women's team in the Olympic tourney to reach 100 points in a game.

After two contests in the five-game, round-robin portion of the tournament, the United States is the only unbeaten team in Group B.

Spain, which lost to China in its first game, bounced back to defeat New Zealand 85-62 and the Czech Republic, which was crushed by the Americans in their opener, defeated overmatched Mali 81-47.

In Group A, Russia was a 77-72 winner over South Korea and Belarus won over Latvia 79-57.