FIBA Basketball | Storm's Jackson helps Australia earn gold

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Penny Taylor scored 28 points and the Storm's Lauren Jackson added 16 to lead Australia past Russia 91-74 Saturday for its first gold medal at the FIBA women's world championship.

Jackson, the WNBA's most valuable player in 2003, had a team-high 11 rebounds.

Jackson, 25, averaged a tournament-high 21.3 points. She pulled down nine rebounds per game.

Taylor, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, was voted the tournament's most valuable player. She scored 26 points in Thursday's semifinal victory over Brazil.

Russia's Maria Stepanova contributed 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Tatiana Shchegoleva added 15 points.

Earlier Saturday, the U.S. team beat host Brazil 99-59 for the bronze medal.

After the tournament, FIBA announced its world ranking of women's teams. The United States was first, with Australia, Russia and Brazil filling the next three spots.

Australia, which hadn't finished higher than third at worlds, went ahead for good 16-15 in the final on Belinda Snell's three-point basket with 1:29 remaining in the first quarter. The Australians (9-0) had a 24-5 run that put them in control at 37-20 with 4:05 left in the first half.

It was the third straight runner-up finish for Russia, which lost to the United States in the previous two championships before defeating the Americans on Thursday in the semifinals.

Russia (5-4) has won six world titles as the former Soviet Union, but none since 1983.

Taurasi scores 28

in 3rd-place game

Diana Taurasi had 28 points on 11-for-15 shooting to lead the United States past Brazil in the third-place game.

Taurasi, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, scored 18 points in the third quarter as the U.S. team, coached by Storm coach Anne Donovan, pulled away after leading 49-34 at halftime.

"We had to prove to ourselves that we could play better than we did against Russia," Taurasi said. "We lost some of our pride in that game, but we managed to recover it today."

Tina Thompson had 15 points for the United States (8-1) against Brazil (5-4).

Sue Bird of the Storm had two points and a game-high five assists.

"We played the way we normally play, and 'D' [Taurasi] was just ridiculous in the second half and opened it up for us," Bird said.

Janeth Arcain led Brazil with 16 points. Iziane Castro Marques of the Storm added 13.

"The Americans played a perfect game," the 37-year-old Arcain said. "Our coaches told us that each team would have one great game and one horrible game. Their horrible game was against Russia, and their great game was against us."

After the game, Arcain announced her retirement from national-team play and expressed a desire to play one more WNBA season. Her last WNBA season was 2005, with the Houston Comets.