U.S. Women's basketball wins in a rout

ATHENS, Greece -- The U.S. women's basketball team routed New Zealand 99-47 in its Olympic opener. Five Americans scored in double figures, turning it on after a slow start.

Favored to win its third straight gold medal, the United States extended its Olympic winning streak to 18. Swin Cash, playing her first game in the Olympics, led with 19 points. Angela Marino led New Zealand with 13 points.

Brazil set the women's Olympic basketball record for points and tied the mark for margin of victory with its 128-62 win over Japan.

Shooting

Li Du of China won the Summer Games' first gold medal Saturday, setting an Olympic record in the women's 10-meter air rifle.

Wang Yifu got China's second gold medal, winning the men's 10-meter air pistol on the final shot. Russians Mikhail Nestruev and Vladimir Isakov took the silver and bronze.

Softball

Jennie Finch didn't allow a hit in three innings, and the Americans began their run toward a third straight gold medal with a 7-0, five-inning victory over Italy.

Natasha Watley went 4-for-4, hitting a two-run triple in the fifth inning to put the United States up by seven runs, invoking the mercy rule that ended the game. Three-time Olympian Lisa Fernandez had an RBI single as the U.S. team extended its winning streak to 71 straight games since July 2003.

Cycling

Italy's Paolo Bettini pulled away in the final 100 meters to win the men's cycling road race, while one of the deepest groups of American riders in an Olympics failed to reach the medals stand. Bettini made a desperate surge past Portugal's Sergio Paulinho, who led much of the final lap around the 8.2-mile circuit The U.S. men's road squad, with four accomplished international riders on the five-man roster, was paced by Tyler Hamilton's 18th-place finish. Temperatures reached 104 degrees on sunny sections of the course, and several riders could not finish.

Women's Volleyball

Angelina Grun had 20 points, including 14 kills, to help Germany rally for a five-set upset of three-time defending gold medalist Cuba in the preliminary round. Germany won 20-25, 24-26, 25-22, 25-15, 17-15.

Table Tennis

Americans Ilija Lupulesku and Jasna Reed each won their first-round matches.

Lupulesku advanced with a 4-0 win over Juan Papic of Chile in men's singles, while Reed beat the Czech Republic's Renata Strbikova 4-2 in women's singles.