USA routs Mali in Olympic basketball

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Lisa Leslie led the way with 16 points Wednesday and the United States rolled to a 97-41 victory over Mali in the Olympic basketball tournament.

The 41 points were the fewest ever scored against an American women's Olympic team.

After three out of five preliminary games, the Americans are the only unbeaten team remaining in Group B. Spain and China are tied for second at 2-1 and the United States already owns a 45-point win over China.

Australia and Russia remained unbeaten in Group A -- Russia holding off Belarus 71-65 and Australia downing South Korea 90-62.

After a typically slow start, the United States opened a 24-12 lead over Mali after one period. The expected romp began a reality when the Americans held Mali to 5 points in the third quarter.

Seimone Augustus added 12 points for the Americans and Tina Thompson had 10.