BEIJING (Olympics) – Australia’s Penny Taylor won’t be at full strength with a sprained ankle when she takes on the United States in the gold medal game on Saturday, and the Americans know what that means.

Lauren Jackson, the player many believe to be the best in the world, will pick up the slack.

Diana Taurasi, Jackson’s close friend and teammate at Spartak Moscow Region, fully expects the Opals ace to be ready to fill the void.

“There’s a girl named Lauren Jackson I think we’ll be focusing on a little bit,” Taurasi said on Friday.

“That’s how good she is,” Taurasi said, “where you have to really concentrate and focus for 40 minutes and know where she is or she’ll have 40 (points) on you.”

Even Jackson is not at 100%, though. The superstar has an ankle injury and will undergo arthroscopic surgery next week to determine the extent of the problem.

She is averaging 16.9 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

Jackson is an excellent shooter from long range as well, burying 34.5% (10 of 29) in the tournament.

Anne Donovan’s team knows the Australians will be ready.

“For us, we just have to come out and match their intensity,” said USA’s Lisa Leslie, who is going for a fourth consecutive gold medal with the American team.

“They love to get out and run. We have to run with them and try to keep them a little bit more on the half court as well.”

Rookie Sylvia Fowles and Tina Thompson, who with Taurasi and Sue Bird is also a teammate of Jackson’s at Spartak, are both leading the USA in scoring at 13.4 points per game.

Fowles and Australia’s Suzy Batkovic are the leading rebounders for their teams at 8.9 per game.

While the Australians managed to win the 2006 FIBA World Championship, they know the Americans have ruled the roost at the Olympics and beaten the Aussies in the last two finals.

"For us it's a third time round the track,” Australia coach Jan Stirling said.

“We are desperate. We have to take care of business on the court. We have to have a lot of passion but we cannot be emotional about it."

FIBA