USA tops France in exhibition

Women’s team cruises, 84-62

Tina Charles scored 17 points and Maya Moore added 13 to help the U.S. women’s basketball team beat France, 8462, Wednesday night in an exhibition game in Newark, Del.

The game was a rematch of the 2012 London Olympics gold-medal game that the Americans won, 86-50.

This time the U.S. team took a half to get going, which wasn’t a total surprise as the Americans have had little training since getting together for the first time as a full team Saturday in Los Angeles.

They played Monday night against a U.S. select team, winning by four, before flying across country for this three-game exhibition series.

Aussies move in

A near-diplomatic incident — as Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes termed it — came to an end Wednesday ahead of the Olympics.

The Australian delegation gave the mayor a tiny “boxing kangaroo” doll as the sign of a truce. It also said it’s now happy with its rooms at Rio’s Olympic Athletes Village.

The 700-member delegation refused to check in three days earlier because of water and gas leaks, electrical shorts, malfunctioning toilets and general filth.

Major player pulls out

Top-20 player Belinda Bencic, 19, said on Twitter she is pulling out of the Rio Olympics, another blow to a Swiss tennis team that lost Roger Federer this week, too.

Bencic, who is No. 16 in the WTA rankings, said she is “not completely ready” to compete at the Summer Games, although her injured left wrist has healed.

The wrist problem forced Bencic to quit in her second-round match June 30 at Wimbledon.

Durant shines

Cheered on all night long by his crazed new fan base, Kevin Durant knocked down a 3-pointer on the Americans’ first touch and slammed home a dunk the very next time down the floor.

What a performance for the Golden State Warriors’ latest big star to lead the U.S. Olympic basketball team past China, 107-57, Tuesday night in Oakland, Calif., for its third dominant victory in as many exhibition games.