Sydney Olympic silver medallist Australia beat Brazil 84-66 Saturday to win the preliminary Group A of the Athens Olympic women's basketball tournament with a 5-0 record.

Australia used a 13-2 run to take the lead 53-43 in the third quarter and improved to 73-57 early in the fourth.

"It was a tough game, but we won easily at the end because we were concentrated and played very good defense against a very good offensive team," said Australian guard Belinda Snell, who had eight rebounds, seven points, three assists and three steals for Australia.

The Australians will play the fourth finisher from Group B in the quarter-finals set for Wednesday.

"We started the game well, but our second half performance was awful," said Brazilian Helen Luz, who led Brazil with 16 points. " We made lots of mistakes and played terrible defense."

Brazil also cruised into top eight after finishing third in the group behind Russia (4-1) with three wins against two losses.

Lauren Jackson shot 8-for-16 from the field and 5-for-5 from the line to lead Australia with 24 points. Penny Taylor and Trish Fallon added 15 and 13 points respectively.

The Brazilian women, bronze medallists at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, started strongly as it fought to a 12-7 lead. However, Australia steadily pulled within 21-20 after the first quarter and went up 40-35 at the half time.