BEIJING – United States women’s basketball coach Anne Donovan has been preaching defense since the first day of practice to her group of WNBA superstars – Thursday at the Summer Olympics they found out why.

When their offense let them down, the Americans called up a swarming defense to keep the game close in the first half then put away Russia in the second half on their way to a 67-52 victory in the semifinals.

“Our defense allowed us to win,” said forward Candace Parker. “In the first half we weren’t knocking down shots, but we were playing great defense and that was what allowed us to stay in the game.”

The victory sets up the much anticipated match with Australia on Saturday to decide the gold medal.

For a time Thursday it looked like that matchup was in doubt. The Russians play a bruising international style and with a partisan throng on hand to cheer them on, they had the better of things through most of the first half. It took a 3-pointer by Diana Taurasi with 27 seconds left before half for the U.S. to take a 33-32 lead into the locker room.

The bad news was the U.S. was simply not scoring, missing open shots and making bad decisions. The good news was their defense was devastating.

“Coach said that (defense) was the difference between today and two years ago,” said Taurasi, referring to a U.S. loss to the Russians in the World Championship semifinals. “Two years ago we had the same thing where we couldn’t score, but then we couldn’t keep them from scoring, but this year we found a way to play as a unit and get those stops.”

The Russians are used to scoring in bunches but the hounding U.S. defense held them to 36 percent shooting for the game. They also committed 18 turnovers. The Americans’ numbers were worse on both counts (33 percent, 22 turnovers), but the U.S. simply had more chances to score with a 52-33 rebounding edge.

“We always talk about offensively we are going to find a way to score enough points to win,” said guard Kara Lawson. “Look at the firepower we have. For us our goal is to hold the other team under 60 points. This (Russia) is a team coming in so prolific on the offensive end. Coach said going in that she thought our defense was going to win the game for us and it came true.”

As usual, depth held a lot of the key. When the starters had trouble stopping Russia’s big post, Maria Stepanova, early on with Lisa Leslie, in came Sylvia Fowles to bang for awhile. Tamika Catchings has said repeatedly that she is on the team because of her defense and she was unusually pesky against Russia.

“Catchings is just a firecracker when she gets in the game,” Taurasi said. “She changes the game with her energy. She swung it our way tonight.”

There was also the X-factor of WNBA star Becky Hammon playing for the other team. She had been leading Russia in scoring, but against the U.S. she was 1-for-6 from the field and finished with three points.

The U.S. offense did not have one of its more productive offensive games, period. Taurasi provided most of it with 21 points. Tiana Thompson added 15.

But, the defense that had limited Russia in the first half smothered them in the second, yielding only 20 points.

So now comes Australia, a 90-56 winner over China on Thursday.

“This game definitely gets us ready for Australia,” said Catchings, referring to the physical play both teams employ.

“It’s going to be our toughest game,” Lawson said. “It’s going to be a championship bout.”

Lady Vol Watch: Lawson finished with two points and one turnover in 11:51 minutes. Parker had three points and eight rebounds in 12:50 minutes. Catchings had four points and eight rebounds in 21:36 minutes.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.