Monarchs Strike First in Finals
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Kara Lawson scores 22 points to lead Sacramento past Detroit, 95-71, Wednesday night in Game 1 of the finals, breaking finals scoring records for a half and a game.
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The St. Louis Cardinals became the first major league team to clinch a playoff spot this season, beating the Diamonbacks, 7-0, Saturday.
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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12 (Ticker) -- Lisa Leslie scored 23 points and backstopped a strong defensive effort as the Los Angeles Sparks shut down the Sacramento Monarchs, 65-52, for their seventh straight home win.
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Ryan Smyth made a big impression in two games. Unfortunately, both were losses. Lee Stempniak's power-play goal 25 seconds into overtime gave St. Louis a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over New York on Thursday night in Smyth's debut on Long Island.
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The Charlotte Bobcats took a deep breath at the urging of coach Bernie Bickerstaff, and claimed their first National Basketball Association victory.
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Barry Brust was grateful he had no time to contemplate the enormity of stopping Joe Thornton and his fellow San Jose Sharks. For the Kings' young goalie, simply doing it was much easier than thinking about it. Anze Kopitar scored two goals and Brust made 34 saves in his first NHL victory, leading Los Angeles to a 4-2 victory over the Sharks on Thursday night.
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Becky Hammon scored 15 of her 20 points in the first half and the San Antonio Silver Stars beat the visiting Sacramento Monarchs, 86-61, to tie their Western Conference semifinal series at 1-1. Rebekkah Brunson led the Monarchs with 18 points and 8 rebounds. The deciding game of the series will be tomorrow night in San Antonio.In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Anna DeForge scored 26 points to help the host Indiana Fever defeat the Connecticut Sun, 78-59, to tie their best-of-three series. Game 3 is tomorrow night. Katie Douglas led the Sun with 11 points.
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Cappie Pondexter scored 9 of her 33 points in the final five minutes as the host Phoenix Mercury advanced to the W.N.B.A. finals with a 98-92 victory yesterday over the San Antonio Silver Stars.The Mercury, which has swept each of its best-of-three playoff series, will play beginning Wednesday against the Detroit Shock or the Indiana Fever. The Fever leads the series, 1-0.Penny Taylor added 23 points and Diana Taurasi had 18 for the Mercury, which has won 15 of its past 16 games.
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Gerald Wallace slid face-first off the court after a hard foul, popped back up and looked at the scoreboard. He wasn't seeing things &#151; the Charlotte Bobcats really were on their way to the first win in franchise history.
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Yolanda Griffith scored a season-high 23 points, helping the Monarchs defeat the Houston Comets, 68-48, last night in Sacramento, clinching the final playoff berth in the Western Conference.
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Lauren Jackson scored 23 points and the Seattle Storm forced a decisive third game in the Western Conference finals, beating the Sacramento Monarchs 66-54 Sunday night.
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The Philadelphia Flyers roared into first place in the Atlantic Division with a 3-2 home overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
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Torii Hunter homered, Jason Kubel hit a grand slam and the Minnesota Twins handed Jon Garland one of the worst defeats of his career while beating the White Sox, 20-14, in the first game of a day-night doubleheader in Chicago yesterday.
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Connecticut&#39;s Taj McWilliams-Franklin played outstanding against New York on Sunday as the Sun swept the Liberty to earn their first trip to the WNBA finals.
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The scoop: Finally! For the first time in this championships, the team that scored first did NOT win the game. Nursing a 1-0 lead starting the third period, the USA surrendered two third-period goals and lost
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The Connecticut Sun got a wake-up call Saturday when then were defeated by the Washington Mystics in the first game of their best-of-three WNBA Eastern Conference semifinal series.
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UNCASVILLE, Conn. - The Connecticut Sun reached the WNBA Finals for the first time by beating the New York Liberty 60-57 Sunday behind Taj McWilliams-Franklin's 18 points to complete a two-game sweep of the Eastern Conference finals...