VIEW PICS  BOX SCORE

SAO PAULO, Brazil Sept 18 - Australia put the finishing touches on its unbeaten march to the women's basketball world championship quarter-finals today with a brutal 83-49 thrashing of Argentina in Brazil.

The Opals (6-0 record) now have a welcome rest day before a knock-out clash on Wednesday local time with France, who lost to China today.

The Australians were without stand-out guard Kristi Harrower, who stayed in her hotel room nursing a stomach complaint, but still had far too many weapons as coach Jan Stirling gave her bench players some extended court-time.

Harrower should be fine for the quarter-final showdown with France.

Argentina had no answer for Lauren Jackson, who tallied an almost effortless 30-point haul to remain the tournament's leading scorer.

As they have throughout the competition, the Argentines kept fighting for the entire 40 minutes, but they lacked the Opals' polish and were never really in the hunt .

The Argentines only qualified for Brazil due to the host nation's automatic entry, but they had taken full advantage prior to today, defeating Spain, Korea and Canada.

The close nature of Group E, however, meant the South Americans still had to beat Australia today to move past Lithuania and reach the quarter-finals.

But it was clear from the opening few minutes Australia would have few troubles against the undersized Argentines.

The Opals led 21-10 at quarter-time and stretched their lead to 15 points by the main break.

From there the only mystery was the final margin as the Australians geared up for some greater tests to come.

AUSTRALIA 83 – Jackson 30, Grima 10, Snell 10
ARGENTINA 49 – Rios 14, Lineira 12, Soberon 8

Earlier today Spain guaranteed its passage to the next round thanks to a sensational individual performance from veteran Amaya Valdemoro, who tallied 39 points in a 75-55 victory over Lithuania.