BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 9 : SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : U.S. FATTENS UP ON A THIN FIELD

Only eight women’s basketball teams are playing in the 1992 Olympics. That will change in ’96 when the women, like the men, will have a 12-team tournament. But what it means now is that the women have two four-team pools, and there are only three preliminary games for each team. The United States plays its last preliminary tonight against Spain.

The medal round will begin Wednesday, when the U.S. team will play the winner of the game between Brazil and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Thus far, the American women look invincible. They have won their two games by a total of 92 points while averaging 102 points a game.

“It’s nice,” forward Clarissa Davis said. “It makes a statement for U.S. basketball. I wouldn’t mind having all of our games like these.”

* This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.