LONDON - Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles have their shot at becoming the first LSU athletes -- past or present -- to win multiple Olympic gold medals. Augustus scored eight points and had four rebounds as the U.S. Women's National team rallied past Australia, 86-73, in the Olympic semifinals on Thursday in London.
The Americans (7-0) erased a four-point halftime deficit to secure a berth in the gold medal game for the fifth consecutive Olympic Games. Team USA, riding a 40-game Olympic win streak dating back to 1992, will meet France (7-0), who remained perfect with an 81-64 win over Russia in the other semifinal.
Augustus finished 4-of-7 from the floor in 16 minutes of action. Fowles was 2-of-3 for four points and two rebounds.
"The energy and everything kind of picked up so it was just a matter of having fun," said Augustus. "I had a lot of great looks at the basket; coach drew up an awesome play coming out of the timeout and I just knocked a few baskets down."
The USA's halftime deficit marked the first time the American women had trailed at halftime in Olympic play since lagging behind Russia in the third game of the 2000 Olympics.
After a score from Augustus at the 9:49 mark, Australia drained a three to close within five points, 67-62, at 8:46, but that was as close as they would get. Augustus answered with another bucket at 7:26 to put Team USA up by seven, and the Americans went on to outscore Australia 19-11 to reach the 86-73 final.
"This team has too many players that can do great things," said Augustus. "One player goes down or one player is struggling the next player is there to pick them up. And that's the great thing about having a team with so much depth."
After winning a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, both Augustus and Fowles are guaranteed to leave London with another Olympic medal. They become the fourth and fifth LSU athletes in any sport - past or present - to claim multiple Olympic medals, joining Glenn "Slats" Hardin (track, 1932, '36); Derrick Brew (track, 2004) and Richard Thompson (track, 2008).
Neither of those athletes has won multiple Olympic gold medals. Augustus and Fowles attempt to make history at 4 p.m. CT Saturday live on NBC.
