Taurasi, U.S. national team beats Tennessee

Tennessee fans greeted former nemesis Diana Taurasi with boos when she returned to the Lady Vols’ court with the U.S. national team.

The former Connecticut standout reminded them just why they dislike her so much.

Taurasi had 26 points and seven rebounds to lead the American team to an 83-72 victory over top-ranked Tennessee in an exhibition game on Sunday at Knoxville, Tenn.

“The bigger the game, the bigger Diana shows up,” U.S. coach Anne Donovan said. “It doesn’t matter that we were playing in Connecticut (on Friday), she couldn’t wait to come to Knoxville. She was hoping she was going to get booed.”

The 6-foot guard-forward won three national championships with Tennessee’s top rival and helped the Huskies to a 7-2 record over the Lady Vols during her college career.

Lisa Leslie added 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in her third game back for the national team since giving birth in June.

Tennessee’s Candace Parker was finished with a team-high 21 points and seven rebounds.

Freshman Angie Bjorklund, a 2007 U-High graduate, helped keep the Lady Vols in the game in the first half with her outside shooting and finished with 13 points.

Tennis

Nalbandian wins again

David Nalbandian beat Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-0 to win the Paris Masters and clinch his second straight Masters title after winning in Madrid last month.

The Argentine player broke Nadal in the ninth game of the first set and three times in the second. He won the match with a forehand that bounced off the net and landed inside the line.

Nalbandian beat the world’s two top players on his way to the title, having knocked out top-ranked Roger Federer in the third round. He also beat Nadal in straight sets in the Madrid quarterfinals.

•Lindsay Davenport won her second title in three events since returning from the birth of her first child, beating third-seeded Julia Vakulenko 6-4, 6-1 in the Bell Challenge at Quebec City.

Miscellany

Joubert wins in Canada

World champion Brian Joubert of France won Skate Canada at Quebec City, hours after U.S. ice dancer Melissa Gregory was injured in a fall.

Gregory was responsive and alert in after a scary accident during the warmup for the free dance. A CT scan showed the head and neck areas clear.

•Tony Schumacher won his fourth straight Top Fuel title, beating Bob Vandergriff in the final round of the Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals at Pomona, Calif., to edge “Hot Rod” Fuller for the championship.

•Bull rider Justin McBride won his second PBR world title, scoring 92.25 points to finish second in the final round of the World Finals at Las Vegas.

•The United States volleyball team remained undefeated after the first round of the Women’s World Cup at Hamamatsu, Japan, getting 13 points from Tayyiba Haneef-Park in a four-set victory over Poland.

•Benjamin Kiprotich Korir set a course record of 2 hours, 14 minutes, 40 seconds in the Athens Classic Marathon in a race tracing the ancient course that gave this event its name.