USA vs. Australia Women's Basketball: TV Schedule, Live Stream & Preview

This is it. The U.S. women's Olympic basketball team is just two wins away from successfully defending its most recent gold medal and earning its fifth straight Olympic title.

The only thing that stands in the way is Australia.

Like their male counterparts, the women have been unbeatable thus far in London—and they've been even more unchallenged than the men. The American women have won each of their games by double figures—most of them, by high double figures—and they are coming off a 43-point dismantling of Canada in the quarterfinals. 

Australia, meanwhile, has been nowhere near as dominant, eking out a couple of victories by six points or less and even dropping a 74-70 contest to France back on July 30 in its second game of the Olympics.

Will Australia, coming off a 15-point win over China in the quarterfinals, have enough of what it takes—and the requisite momentum—to shock the U.S. and earn a berth to the gold-medal game? Or is the U.S. just too unbeatable?

Here's everything you need to know about where and when you can catch the semifinal action.

Where: London, England 

When: Thursday, August 9 at 12 p.m. ET

Watch: NBC Sports Network, NBC Basketball Channel

Live Stream: NBCOlympics.com

U.S. Key to the Game: Stay Intimidating

No team has come close to beating the U.S. this summer, and that's a testament to the attitude this team has adopted over the last several weeks. 

The U.S. women's team takes great pride in being better—miles and miles out of its opponents' leagues—and it has no interest in being the underdog or playing the backs-against-the-wall card. First, there's no way a team coming off a 43-point victory could possibly be interpreted as an underdog in any way, shape or form.

And because of that, the American women have adopted the opposite attitude: They've made each and every one of their opponents believe that they have no chance. So far, it's worked.

As coach Geno Auriemma told The New York Times:

"

Me? I don’t like being the underdog. I like coaching the best team with the best players, and then if we lose, it’s my fault. It’s like playing cards. I don’t want to win on the seventh hand because I get lucky. I want to have four aces right off the bat.

"

The Americans have many more than four aces; it seems like every player who steps onto the court for Auriemma is an ace. Each game, it's someone else leading the charge: At the beginning of the Olympics, it was Candace Parker, who seemed to be registering double-doubles with ease. For a while, it was Angel McCoughtry and Tina Charles leading the way. For the last couple of games, Diana Taurasi has been the star of the show and the leading scorer.

There's always someone else who's capable of stepping up, and that's precisely what makes the U.S. so dangerous and so un-underdog-like: This team has just too many weapons to be reckoned with. 

And if the U.S. keeps using all of them against Australia, there's no reason to believe it won't be playing for another gold medal on Saturday.

Australia Key to the Game: Try to Establish Some Consistency 

Australia has been the polar opposite from the U.S. during these Olympics. It started off strong with a 74-58 win over Great Britain in Game 1, but ever since, there have been high high's and low low's.

If this summer's pattern is any indication, this team is due for one of the low's when it takes the court against the Americans on Thursday.

Two days after decisively taking down Great Britain earlier this summer, Australia endured a tough four-point loss to France. It bounced back in its next game against Brazil, but ever since losing to France, it has failed to win as decisively as it did right off the bat. Maybe the Australians are playing scared; maybe the competition is just getting stronger.

Whatever the case, Australia absolutely cannot respond to the U.S. the same way it responded to the team it played after its last double-digit victory. It needs to find some way to ride the momentum it earned from its 75-60 win over China on Tuesday—even if that means playing that dreaded underdog card that Auriemma detests so much.

Lauren Jackson is the leader of this team and she has the skill to put Australia on her shoulders and really help her side fight the U.S. for the right to play in the gold-medal game. During Tuesday's win, she became the all-time Olympic scoring leader in women's basketball, according to the Associated Press. Now, it's time for her to shoot for another milestone.

Prediction: U.S. Wins

In three consecutive Olympics, the Americans and the Australians have played for the gold in women's basketball. The stakes aren't quite as high in this semifinals matchup, but there's no reason to believe the result will be any different than it has been in years past.

No team has found a way to beat the U.S. this summer because no team has found a way to neutralize all of the U.S.'s weapons. Australia may have Lauren Jackson, but she's going to need a lot of help in order to defeat the Americans. Count this one as the U.S.'s women's team's 40th straight Olympic victory.