Thursday 3/11
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Tournaments to decide state champions
in South Dakota girls basketball begin Thursday at three sites.
Class AA girls are playing in Huron, while the Class A
tournament is in Aberdeen and Class B in Watertown.
State champions in all three divisions will be crowned Saturday
evening.
There are no unbeaten teams left. Three teams have only one loss
each: Newell in Class B, and Sisseton and Elkton-Lake Benton in
Class A.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Brandon Richardson scored 19 points and
No. 12 seed Nebraska took command with an early 16-1 run and
shocked No. 5 seed Missouri 75-60 Wednesday in an opening-round
upset at the Big 12 tournament.
The underdog Cornhuskers (15-17), who had won just two of 16 Big
12 regular-season games, outrebounded, outshot and outhustled the
team that had easily beaten them twice this year.
After Kim English pulled the Tigers (22-10) to 61-51 with a pair
of free throws with 4:01 to play, Richardson canned a long
3-pointer, drew a foul from Zaire Taylor and made the free throw
for a four-point play that clinched it.
Ryan Anderson had 16 points for Nebraska and Jorge Brian Diaz
had 10, including several easy buckets as the Huskers consistently
beat Missouri's pressure defense.
Laurence Bowers had 11 points for Missouri, the defending Big 12
tournament champion.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Protecting its perfect record isn't
Nebraska's primary goal as it heads into the Big 12 tournament in
Kansas City, Mo.
The way coach Connie Yori figures it, the third-ranked
Cornhuskers (29-0) need one win to assure themselves a No. 1 seed
in the NCAA tournament.
Yori says she would rather keep her starters healthy and fresh
rather than push them hard through what, for them, would be a
three-games-in-three-days grind to win the championship.
She says there is a relaxed atmosphere around the team this
week.
The Huskers open the tournament Friday against either Texas Tech
or Kansas State.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Iowa State has lost its battle to
advance in the Big 12 tournament. Texas pulled away from the plucky
Cyclones to win 82-75 yesterday in a hard-fought opening-round
game. Marquis Gilstrap scored 17 points for Iowa State, and Craig
Brackins added 15.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Iowa coach Todd Lickliter's experience
with the Big Ten tournament consists only of watching his Hawkeyes
lose to Michigan in the opening round. Iowa gets the Wolverines
today for the third year in a row, and they're hoping for a
different outcome.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Minnesota Timberwolves have seven losses
in a row. The Denver Nuggets earned a 110-102 victory in
Minneapolis last night. Al Jefferson had 17 points and 10 rebounds
for the Wolves, who have won once since February 6.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota Timberwolves forward Ryan Hollins
has been suspended for two games after separate run-ins with
Mavericks players Dirk Nowitzki and DeShawn Stevenson on Monday.
Hollins has been starting recently and is averaging 6.8 points and
3 rebounds a game.
UNDATED (AP) - The struggling Minnesota Wild will try to avoid
their fourth loss in a row when they visit Detroit tonight. It's
the teams' first meeting at Joe Louis Arena this season. The Wild
might be without defensemen Brent Burns and Shane Hnidy, who left
Tuesday's loss to Florida with injuries.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Vikings defensive lineman Pat Williams has
testified he didn't know an over-the-counter weight-loss supplement
contained a banned diuretic that led to his positive drug test in
2008. The NFL is trying to suspend him and teammate Kevin Williams
for testing positive for the banned substance.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
