Australia continued the winning trend by scoring its fourth easy victory in Group A over Latvia 96-73 at the women's basketball tournament of the Beijing Olympics on Friday.

Center Lauren Jackson led four Australian double-figure scorers with a game-high 30 points, including five 3-pointers. Zuzy Batkovic poured in 18 and Penny Taylor added 11 and 11 rebounds.

The world champion, who won an average 21 points in three previous games, faced a strong challenge from Latvia in the first half.

Latvia trailed by 18-19 in the first period after several lead changes and opened the second quarter wih a 7-0 run for a six point lead and as many as seven, 30-23.

It was Lauren Jackson who scored two consecutive 3-pointers to send Australia a 34-31 lead. After Ieva Tare tied 36-all, Jackson scored again with a jump and a long range to complete the first half, 41-38.

During the spurt, Jackson contributed 11 of her 17 halftime points.

Improving their defense, the Australian pulled away to finish the third quarter, 76-56, and led as many as 24 points, 80-56, before clinching the victory.

"We weren't doing what we were supposed to in the first half," Taylor said after the game.

"We came back and had a fire about us in the third quarter. Jackson was keeping us in there shooting well in the first half and everybody stepped up to help her out in the end."

Four Latvians scored double digits with Tare hitting 14 points.

On Sunday, Australia will play its last group game against Russia, while Latvia, who registered a 1-3 win-loss record in the preliminary round, faces on South Korea.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)