USA - Augustus sets the standard

MINNESOTA (WNBA/FIBA World Championship for Women) - Seimone Augustus has been able to do something in her career that will make her remembered as one of the all-time greats in women's basketball.

The two-time Olympic gold-medal winner of the United States has put the ball in the basket no matter which team she has played for, be it at Louisiana State University, with her various clubs in Europe, with the national side or in the WNBA with the Minnesota Lynx.

Fresh off her title triumph at the London Games with the Americans, Augustus has returned to home and started to light up the WNBA again.

Her 23 points on Tuesday night not only helped the defending champions Lynx overcome the Los Angeles Sparks, 88-77, but left Augustus as the all-time leading scorer in team history.

While hitting a career-high six three-balls, Augustus' third from long range with 4:11 left in the second quarter allowed her to surpass former USA star Katie Smith (3,605pts) as the greatest scorer in Lynx history.

The 28-year-old guard now has 3,620 points.

She is averaging 17.4 points on the season for Minnesota, who are first in the Western Conference with 22 wins and just four defeats.

"Right now, she's just in there kind of embarrassed like 'Yeah, that's great,'" said Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve.

"And her teammates were just really happy for her, so that says a lot about her as a person."

Augustus wasn't able to play for the Americans at the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women in the Czech Republic when they captured a gold medal because of injuries and health problems.

However, she made a dramatic return to action last year and led the Lynx to the WNBA title, earning the honor as MVP of the Finals in the process.

Expect her to be in the squad when the Americans launch their championship defense in Turkey in 2014, though.

They are almost certain to be the runaway favorites for the gold medal.

FIBA