D4 COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONALROUNDUP
Connecticut streak extends to 85wins
Ta’Shia Phillips added 20 ASSOCIATED PRESS Stefanie Dolson scored 16
pointsandtop-ranked Connect- icut moved a step closer to the longest Division I winning streak in college basketball his- tory by beginning Big East play with an 80-54 rout of South Florida in Tampa, Fla., on Thursday night. The two-time defending na-
tional champions never trailed, scoring the first 12 points of the game and building a 22-2 lead before USF (5-3, 0-1) finally madeits first field goal with just more than nine minutes left in the opening half. TheHuskies (7-0, 1-0) extend-
ed the longest winning streak by a women’s team to 85 games —three shy of the men’s record set by UCLA from 1971 to ’74. U-Conn. can surpass that mark by defeating SacredHeart,Mar- quette, No. 6 Ohio State and No. 15 Florida State over the next three weeks. Maya Moore scored 14 for U-Conn., moving within nine points of passing Tina Charles to become the Huskies’ career scoring leader. The three-time all-American missed seven of the eight shots she took from the field, but went 11 for 12 from the foul line and had a team- high six assists while boosting her career scoring total to 2,338 points.
Dolson took up the slack of- fensively for U-Conn., going 6 of 8 from the field. Bria Hartley and Kelly Faris scored 13 points apiece. TiffanyHayes added 12. Andrea Smith led South Flor-
ida with 20 points. Her twin sister, Andrell, added 15 for the Bulls, who shot 26 percent (8 of 31) from the field in the opening half and 30.6 percent (19 of 62) for the game. l XAVIER 69, SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA 66: Amber Harris had 28 points and 14 rebounds, helping the No. 4 Musketeers hold off the Lady Trojans in Cincinnati.
points and 16 boards forXavier, which is off to a 7-0 start for the second consecutive season. Briana Gilbreath set career
highs with 26 points and four three-pointers for the Trojans (4-3). l WEST VIRGINIA 90, ELON
51: InMorgantown,W. Va.,Ma- dina Ali had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Liz Repella added 17 points and the 10th-ranked Mountaineers beat the Phoenix. West Virginia (7-0) is off to its
best start since going 9-0 in the 2004-05 season. TheMountain- eers earned their 23rd straight home win and improved to 56-3 against nonconference oppo- nents at home. AliFord led Elon (4-3) with 15
points but had 11 turnovers. l NORTH CAROLINA 79,
IOWA 67: In Chapel Hill, N.C., Italee Lucas scored a career- high34points, leading the 14th- ranked Tar Heels past the 18th- ranked Hawkeyes in the ACC/ Big Ten Challenge. Laura Broomfield added 12
points and 11 rebounds off the bench for UNC (8-0), which got 10 points from Chay Shegog (Brooke PointHigh).
Baylormen win LaceDarius Dunn had 24
points with six three-pointers and sparked the tie-breaking run after halftime as No. 11 Baylor stretched its home win- ning streak to 11 games with a 68-54 victory over Arizona State.
Dunn made all of his three- pointers before bruising his left forearmwhenhe fell hard to the court going for an offensive rebound with 6 minutes 43 sec- onds left. He was on the court writhing in pain, then went to the bench, where he kept rub- bing his arm and grimacing before returning 2 minutes lat- er.He was still hurting when he got back in the game. It was only Dunn’s third
game this season for Baylor (6-0).
STANDINGSAND BOXSCORES
EASTERNCONFERENCE SOUTHEAST W L PCT. GB L10 Orlando Atlanta Miami
14 4 .778 Charlotte
Washington ATLANTIC
Boston
New York Toronto
New Jersey Philadelphia
CENTRAL Chicago Indiana
Cleveland Milwaukee Detroit
12 7 .632 21/2 12 8 .600 6 12 .333 5 12 .294
81/2
10 9 .526 41/2 7 11 .389 6 13 .316 5 13 .278
81/2
— 9-1 6-4
3 6-4 8 4-6 3-7
W L PCT. GB L10 14 4 .778
— 8-2 7-3
7 6-4 3-7
9 3-7
W L PCT. GB L10 9 7 .563 9 8 .529 7 11 .389 6 12 .333
— 6-4 1/2
6-4 6 13 .316 41/2
3 3-7 4 3-7 3-7
WESTERNCONFERENCE SOUTHWEST W L PCT. GB L10 San Antonio Dallas
New Orleans Memphis Houston
Oklahoma City Denver
Portland
Minnesota PACIFIC
L.A. Lakers xPhoenix
xGolden State Sacramento L.A. Clippers
15 3 .833 14 4 .778 13 5 .722 8 11 .421 6 12 .333
15 5 .750 13 6 .684
71/2 9 4-6
NORTHWEST W L PCT. GB L10 Utah
11/2
11 6 .647 21/2 8 10 .444 4 14 .222
— 8-2 8-2 7-3
6 3-7 10 3-7
W L PCT. GB L10 13 6 .684 8 9 .471
4 12 .250 4 15 .211
8 10 .444 41/2 71/2
— 5-5 4 5-5 2-8 1-9
9 3-7 WEDNESDAY’SRESULTS
Toronto 127,Washington 108 Atlanta 112, Memphis 109 Oklahoma City 123, New Jersey 120,3OT Boston 99, Portland 95 Miami 97, Detroit 72 Orlando 107, Chicago 78 New Orleans 89, Charlotte 73 Dallas 100, Minnesota 86 Houston 109, L.A. Lakers 99 Denver 105, Milwaukee 94 Utah 110, Indiana 88 L.A. Clippers 90, San Antonio 85
THURSDAY’SRESULTS
Miami 118, at Cleveland 90 Phoenix at Golden State, Late
FRIDAY’SGAMES Portland atWashington, 7 New Jersey at Charlotte, 7 Oklahoma City at Toronto, 7 Philadelphia at Atlanta, 7:30 Orlando at Detroit, 7:30 Houston at Memphis, 8 New York at New Orleans, 8 Chicago at Boston, 8 Minnesota at San Antonio, 8:30 L.A. Clippers at Denver, 9 Indiana at Phoenix, 9 Sacramento at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 Dallas at Utah, 10:30
SATURDAY’SGAMES
Atlanta at Miami, 7:30 Charlotte at Philadelphia, 7:30 Houston at Chicago, 8 Cleveland at Minnesota, 8 Orlando at Milwaukee, 8:30 Dallas at Sacramento, 10
WIZARDS’NEXTTHREE
vs. Trail Blazers Today, 7 Comcast SportsNet
at Suns Sunday, 8 Comcast SportsNet
CHRIS O'MEARA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kelly Faris scored 13 points to help U-Conn. extend its winning streak to 85 games, three short of theUCLAmen’s 1971-74 mark.
AREAWOMEN
Kizer scores 20 points to lead the Terrapins
NEWS SERVICES AND STAFF REPORTS Lynetta Kizer scored 20
points to help No. 22 Maryland rally past Purdue, 56-55, in Thursday night’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge in West Lafayette, Ind. Alyssa Thomas and Diandra
Tchatchouang each scored 12 points for the Terrapins (6-1), who trailed by 11with 5minutes 24 seconds remaining. Mary- land outrebounded Purdue, 40- 27, and scored 20 points off of- fensive rebounds. Courtney Moses led Purdue
with 12 points and five assists, but shealsohadseventurnovers and missed what could have beenagame-winningshot inthe closing seconds. The Boilermakers had not
played since Nov. 21, when for- ward Drey Mingo had bacterial meningitis diagnosed. She has been released fromthe hospital, but shemissedthe game against the school she transferred from last year andis out indefinitely. l AMERICAN 46, GEORGE
MASON43:LizLeer scored16of her 18 points in the second half to lead the Eagles (4-4) to a win in their home opener. Evelyn Lewis scored nine points on 4- of-4shootingtoleadthePatriots (2-4). American trailed by 12 points
inthe firsthalf aftermaking just 25 percent of their field goal attempts before halftime. The
Eaglesdidn’t take their first lead until 3 minutes 43 seconds re- mained. Ashleigh Braxton’s three-
pointer at the buzzer to tie the score and send the game into overtimewas off themark. lMARSHALL 64, GEORGE
WASHINGTON 61: Danni Jack- son scored 17 points and had seven assists, and Tara Booker added 15 points intheColonials’ double overtime loss in Hun- tington,
W.Va. Tynikki Crook scored a ca-
reer-high 32 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Thundering Herd(2-4). In a game featuring 10 lead
changes and nine ties, GW(3-3) was outscored 44-24 in the lane but scored 20 points off 19Mar- shall turnovers. l OHIO STATE 74, VIRGINIA
46: Simone Egwu scored 11 points as the Cavaliers (4-4) lost in theACC/Big Ten Challenge in Columbus, Ohio. Jantel Laven- der led the Buckeyes (6-0) with 14points. lMINNESOTA 63, VIRGINIA
TECH 58: The Hokies weren’t able to overcome a 17-point first- half deficit, losing in the ACC/ Big Ten Challenge inMinneapo- lis,Minn. AerialWilsonscoredacareer-
high 14 points for Virginia Tech (4-3), which suffered its third consecutive loss. Kiara Buford scored a career-
high 27 points to lead the Go- phers (5-3).
at Lakers Tuesday, 10:30 Comcast SportsNet
Radio:WJFK (106.7 FM) HEAT118,CAVALIERS90
MIAMI ................................ 31 28 36 23 — 118 CLEVELAND ....................... 23 17 25 25 — 90 MIAMI James
MIN Bosh
Ilgauskas Arroyo Wade
Anthony Chalmers Howard Jones House
Dampier TOTALS
FG FT O-T A PF PTS
30:02 15-25 6-9 0-5 8 1 38 28:50 6-11 3-5 0-5 3 4 15 16:38 27:54
0-0 0-0 1-2 1 3 3-9 0-0 2-3 1 4
1-1 2-2 2-8 2 3 3-5 0-0 0-0 3 5 3-6 0-0 1-3 1 0
0 6
32:34 10-16 2-3 3-9 9 4 22 24:26 20:06 19:10 26:28 6:56 6:56
4 9 6
6-8 1-2 0-6 0 3 18 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0-1 0-0 0-2 1 0
0 0
240 47-83 14-21 9-43 30 28 118
Percentages: FG .566, FT .667. 3-Point Goals: 10-24, .417 (Jones 5-7, Chalmers 3-4, James 2-7, Bosh 0-1, House 0-1, Wade 0-1, Arroyo 0-3). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 10 (14 PTS). Blocked Shots: 5 (Anthony, House, Ilgauskas, James, Jones). Turnovers: 9 (Bosh 3, Wade 3, Anthony 2, Howard). Steals: 7 (Wade 3, Bosh, Dampier, Ilgauskas, James). Technical Fouls: House, 2:25 fourth.
CLEVELAND Graham
Hickson Varejao
MWilliams Parker
Jamison Hollins Gibson Moon
Sessions JWilliams Powe
TOTALS MIN
18:19 26:37 24:48 25:22 19:59
FG FT O-T A PF PTS 2-5 0-0 0-0 0 2
3-9 0-0 1-4 0 1 1-4 2-2 2-8 1 1
28:01 6-14 5-7 1-4 2 1 21 10:15 22:38 19:26 12:00
26:07 4-10 2-2 2-3 3 3 11 6:28
0-2 4-6 1-3 0 3 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1
2-5 7-8 1-3 7 0 11 3-8 0-0 0-5 0 2 2-4 3-4 1-4 0 0
3 4 2 6
7 240 27-76 29-37 9-35 21 19 90
Percentages: FG .355, FT .784. 3-Point Goals: 7-19, .368 (Gibson 4-6, Parker 1-2, M.Williams 1-2, Jamison 1-3, Graham 0-1, Hickson 0-1, Moon 0-2, J.Williams 0-2). Team Rebounds: 16. Team Turnovers: 14 (28 PTS). Blocked Shots: 0. Turnovers: 13 (Parker 4, M.Williams 4, Hickson 2, Jamison, Sessions, Varejao). Steals: 6 (Jami- son 2, Gibson, Sessions, Varejao, J.Williams). Technical Fouls: Gibson, 2:25 fourth. A: 20,562 (20,562). T: 2:34.
NBALEADERS EnteringThursday’sgames
SCORING G FG
Durant, OKC.................16 142 Bryant, LAL..................19 171 Rose, CHI .....................15 149 Nowitzki, DAL..............18 169 Westbrook, OKC..........19 152 Ellis, GOL .....................18 167 Gordon, LAC.................17 134
REBOUNDS G
Love, MIN.....................18 85 Noah, CHI.....................16 66 Evans, TOR ..................15 65 Howard, ORL................18 51 Gasol, LAL....................19 68
ASSISTS G
Rondo, BOS........................... 15 Paul, NOR.............................. 18 Williams, UTA....................... 20 Nash, PHX............................. 15 Kidd, DAL.............................. 18
AST 207 189 204 144 167
AVG 13.8 10.5 10.2 9.6 9.3
OFF DEF TOT AVG 184 132 117 166 158
269 14.9 198 12.4 182 12.1 217 12.1 226 11.9
FT
130 138 69 96
157 78
120
PTS AVG 437 27.3 507 26.7 387 25.8 447 24.8 467 24.6 436 24.2 409 24.1
4 6 4
2-8 6-8 0-1 6 4 11 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 1
— 8-2 1 8-2 2 5-5 4-6
EZ SU
KLMNO PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2010
GREGORY SHAMUS/GETTY IMAGES
LeBron James, right, had plenty to smile about in his first game back since leaving Cleveland for Miami. James scored 38 points, 10 more points than the Cavaliers’ starting lineup.
Jamesmakes triumphant return against Cavaliers
BY RUSTYMILLER
cleveland — First the Cleve- landfanshadtheir say, thenLeB- ronJames answered. James led a 16-0 first-quarter
surge that quieted the boos and abuse of fans who used to call him King, scoring 38 points to lead the Miami Heat to a 118-90 victory over the Cavaliers on Thursdaynight. It was James’ first game back
in the city where he played for seven years before leaving via free agency, angering disbeliev- ing fanswho consideredhimone of their own. Dwyane Wade added 22
points, James Jones 18 and Chris Bosh15 for theHeat. Daniel Gibson scored 21 for
theCavaliers,whohave lost sixof eight andnowplay sevenof their next eight onthe road. James had 10 more points
thanCleveland’s starting lineup. Ahead by 19 at the half, the
Heat poured it on by shooting 73 percent fromthefieldinthethird quarter,withJamesgoing10of12 and Wade hitting all four of his attempts to stretch the lead to 30 points. James sat on the bench for all
of the fourth quarter, with doz- ens of security guards and police
MIAMI CLEVELAND 118 90
lining the team’s entrance to the court and guarding against ob- jects thrown at him. After the final seconds sifted away, he left without incident. Until then, James frequently
bantered with his former coach- es with the Cavaliers and even talked to fans at courtside. The native of nearby Akron smiled while shooting free throws, in spite of what seemed like the entire arena chanting, “Akron hates you!” The early spurt left a crowd of
20,562with nothing left to cheer except James’ occasionalmissed shot.Hedidn’tmissmany, finish- ing 15 of 25 from the field, to go with eight assists and five re- bounds. Fans held up signs that read,
“Quitness” and “Play Like It’s Game Five”— a reference to his Nike marketing campaign and also last season’s pivotal game in the playoff series with Boston, when many felt James had quit on the Cavaliers. Therewere five guyswearing a single letter each on their white T-shirts that spelledout:LeBum. Cleveland native and game
show host Drew Carey, Browns icon Bernie Kosar, Indians slug- gerTravisHafnerandmostof the current Browns were cheered wildlywhen, justbeforethestart, they slowly made their way to courtside seats. Cincinnati Ben- gals receiver Terrell Owens even was inattendance. By far, the loudest cheerswere
saved for Cavs owner Dan Gil- bert,whohadrippedJames after hisdecision,sayinghequitonthe Cavaliers during their season- ending playoff series with the Celtics last spring. It didn’t take long for theHeat
to end the suspense once the game
began.Cleveland led, 17-12, early, but James led the 16-0 surge. He scored on a reverse layupintraffic toput theHeatup 19-17 andtheynever lookedback. With the Cavaliers falling far-
ther and farther behind, the fans had to content themselves with cheering each time James had a shot blocked or was called for a foul. During warmups, they booed whenever James touched the ball and cheered whenever his shots clangedout. He hit a mid-range jumper at
the 10:41mark forhis firstpoints -andthe crowdrespondedangri- ly. By the end, though, they were quiet.
—Associated Press Wizards work to fix mistakes
Team tries to digest big loss in Toronto
as Portland hits town BYMICHAEL LEE
Before they hit the court for a
brief practice Thursday, the Washington Wizards had to sit in the locker room to watch film of their appalling defensive per- formance the night before in Toronto. The footage of the Raptors
driving, dunkingandconverting uncontested layupsandjumpers wasgruesome,andsowasCoach Flip Saunders’s critique with his players after the team suffered an embarrassing 127-108 loss that had more to do with a massive disparity in trying than in talent. “We didn’t play with no ener-
gy. If you watched film like we did, we just didn’t have no ef- fort,” saidNo. 1 overall pick John Wall, whose return after missing the previous two games with a bruised left knee did little to keep the Wizards (5-12) from setting a franchise record with nine consecutive road losses to open a season. Wall also said that the players
have to start taking on a greater responsibility of policing each other.He said he didn’t feel com- fortable telling his teammates about their mistakes when he wassidelined for six of the previ- ous eight games before Toronto. “Now that I’m back on the
court, I got to stepmy leadership role up again, start telling peo- ple when they’re wrong and let- ting people tell me when I’m wrong, not gettingmad,”hesaid. “That’s what we’ve got to start doing, like [assistant] coach Sam Cassell told us, we got to start holding people account- able, not letting them get away with little stuff, whether they’re doing something wrong or not doing something right, we have
to say something.” Wall admitted that speaking
up isn’t always easy, but it’s a necessity for a struggling team. “Ithinkat times,wescaredto say something toeachother because we think it might mess up a friendship or they might take it thewrongway.Butuntilwestart doing that and start keying in more on the defensive end, it seems like things are going to keep going like this.” Saunders didn’t hold back as
he pointed out the numerous lapses and breakdowns, the lack of focus, the inability to get back in transition, the failure to box out or chase down loose balls. His words during the film ses- sion stung. But feelings, per- haps, needed to be hurt for a young team coming off an unac- ceptable performance and on a season-long four-game slide. “We had a couple of guys who
still felt sorry for themselves because of how the game was and how our film session went,” Saunders said. “But that’s part of getting better. Accept criticism, take it and get better.” Three of the Wizards’ past
four losses have been by double digits, with the lone competitive gameduring this stretch coming with a 100-99 loss at home against Orlando, as they came within a Dwight Howard re- bound putback of pulling off a shocking victory. “We missed a lot of assign-
ments, but it’s got to start with competing, and that effort [in Toronto] was embarrassing. We didn’t compete at all,” Al Thorn- ton said of the loss in Toronto. Thornton came back after miss- ing the previous three games with a sprained left ankle. “We’ve justgot to start playing
harder. At home we play with more energy because our fans are here,”Wall said. The Wizards are back athome
on Friday against Portland, be- fore setting off for a three-game road trip against Phoenix, the two-time defending champion
Los Angeles Lakers, and Sacra- mento. But Saunders realizes that just being back at Verizon Center, where the Wizards are an impressive 5-3, won’t be enough. “As a young team, you can’t
worry about wins and losses; you got to worry about playing the right way, getting better,” said Saunders, adding that his patience has fluctuated throughout the season. “De- pends on when you talk to me. Sometimes I’m patient. Some- times, I’m not. Like everybody, you become frustrated when the same mistakes are made over and over and over, and there are things you continue to work on. I’ve talked to a lot of people that have gone through it. And they said, ‘It takes time and you have to be patient. Every player has a different learning curve and ev- ery team has a different learning curve.’ ”
Saunders said getting players
back could limit the wear and tear on those who have been asked to take on more responsi- bility in the absence of others. He said Kirk Hinrich, who has started all 17 games and leads the team in minutes played “is worn down now.” Yi Jianlian ruled himself a game-time decision against the Trail Blazers, as he participated in a full practice for the first time sinceWall crashed into his right knee, leading to a hyperexten- sion, onNov. 13. Saunders is also eager to es-
tablish a solid, regular rotation that could help the Wizards de- velop some chemistry and halt this slide. “I think the thing from our standpoint, which has been pretty frustrating, we haven’t had a chance to say, ‘Here’s our team.’ We’re going in [Friday] and we don’t know who we’re going to dress. That’s a tough situation.” When asked who was ques-
tionable for the Portland game, Saunders joked, “Everybody.”
leem@washpost.com
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