NANJING, China -- Lisa Leslie had 19 points and six rebounds, and Sheryl Swoopes scored 17 to lead the defending champion United States past Spain 94-55 Monday and into the semifinals of the Women's World Basketball Championship.

Shannon Johnson scored 20 points as the U.S. team advanced to face Australia, a 78-52 quarterfinal winner over France, in the semifinals Tuesday.

Lauren Jackson scored 33 points for Australia, which won the silver medal at the Sydney Olympics. In other quarterfinals, Chun Joo-weon scored 15 points to lead South Korea to a 71-70 win over Brazil 71-70; and Elena Baranova scored 23 points in Russia's 86-70 victory over host China.

Swoopes, the WNBA MVP, helped limit Spain's top scorer, Amaya Valdemoro, to seven points.

U.S. coach Van Chancellor said the American women were motivated by the sixth-place finish of the U.S. men's team at the World Championships earlier this month.

"I don't think there's ever been anything that's been any better attention getter for the U.S. women than the fact our men got beat,'' Chancellor said. "I think that's one of the reasons we've been so focused.

"It's hard to be focused when you're winning with comfortable leads, and we've been a pretty focused basketball team. No let up, no let up.''

Swoopes and Leslie combined to score 16 of the team's 24 first-quarter points.

The Americans limited Spain to just 11 points in the first quarter and 26 points in the second half.

Johnson scored 12 points in the second period, including a 3-point buzzer-beater from midcourt to end the half.

"I was just trying to be aggressive with the ball, because Lisa and Sheryl are going to get a lot of attention, so that takes the pressure off the rest of us to go out there and play,'' Johnson said.

Johnson, who played in Spain in 2000 and last year, credited Swoopes with neutralizing Valdemoro.

"I played with Amaya this past year over there so I know exactly what she can do,'' Johnson said. "She's a great player, she's one of the top players in Spain, so you know you've got to respect her.''

The unbeaten Americans put together a strong offensive and defensive showing and appear to be growing more comfortable together.

"We've only been together for a short time, so you're talking about 12 players who do different things ... and then turning around to form a team,'' Johnson said. "So I think that, at first, it wasn't natural for all of us to get out there and play together. But I think we're doing a much better job.''

Chancellor doesn't expect to change the U.S. team's style of play in the semifinals, especially after seven straight wins.

"Nobody's going to remember what we've done up to this point if we don't get the job done in the next two nights,'' he said. "You can't say we've been dominant. We're on our way, but we're not there yet.''