BEIJING -- Diana Taurasi scored 21 points and pulled down nine rebounds to carry the United States women's basketball team to a 67-52 win over Russia and into the gold medal game.

Tina Thompson added 15 points for the U.S., which overcame a seven-point deficit and scored 12 in a row during the third quarter to go ahead for good.

Saturday's gold medal contest will be versus either Australia or China.

It was a tough shooting night for the Americans, who ended 22-of-66 from the field, but in the end the three-time defending gold medalists had their 32nd straight Olympic win. "We were rushing things," said Taurasi. "We found our rhythm once we started to slow things down."

Sylvia Fowles had eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the U.S. outrebounded Russia 52-33.

Maria Stepanova had 14 points to lead Russia, which also got 12 from Tatiana Shchegoleva and 11 from Ilona Korstin. The Russians went just 1-of-14 from 3-point range, although their defense held the Americans to 32 points less than what they were averaging through the first six games.

Russia defeated the United States the previous time the countries met in major international competition, posting a 75-68 triumph in the 2006 FIBA World Championship semifinals. However, the U.S. women registered a 93-58 victory over Russia at the 2008 FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament in Haining, China.

"We lost our concentration in the second half," said Stepanova. "Anyway, I think it's possible to beat them. The difference was that in the world championship, when we defeated them, we were focused the whole match. But not today. It wasn't our day."

Ahead by three after the opening quarter, Russia expanded the lead to 28-21 with 3:06 left in the second following a Shchegoleva 3-pointer. The US came right back with an ensuing 12-2 run, capped by a Taurasi three-pointer.

Taurasi, who finished 5-of-8 from beyond the arc, was instrumental in the game-changing run in the third.

Russia scored the first six points of the second half for a 38-33 lead, but a basket from Thompson and a three-ball from Katie Smith tied the contest. Thompson's inside bucket gave the U.S. the lead again, and after a turnover from Taurasi's former UConn teammate, Svetlana Abrosimova, Taurasi sank a 3-pointer.

Lisa Leslie's layup culminated the 12-point rush for the 45-38 lead with 4:24 left in the third. The difference widened to eight going into the fourth and for nearly the entire final quarter the Americans played with a double-digit lead.

"We weren't making any shots, but once we settled in we got the job done," said Fowles. "We still had a bad shooting night, but we did a good job defensively."