In brief: No. 9 Stanford routs No. 4 Musketeers
Women’s Basketball: Nnemkadi Ogwumike had 23 points and 11 rebounds and No. 9 Stanford pulled off a surprising rout of fourth-ranked Xavier at Stanford, Calif., with an 89-52 victory Tuesday for its 51st straight home win.
The game served a tuneup for Thursday’s showdown with top-ranked Connecticut.
Jeanette Pohlen added 19 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals for the Cardinal (8-2), who beat the third-seeded Musketeers in the Sacramento Regional last March when Pohlen drove the length of the floor in 4.4 seconds and scored the winning layin as time expired for a 55-53 victory.
Amber Harris had 18 points and nine rebounds for cold-shooting Xavier (10-2), which lost its second straight game after a 10-0 start.
Suspended Buckeyes offer apologies
College Football: Star quarterback Terrelle Pryor and four Ohio State teammates suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season apologized for selling championship rings and memorabilia and taking discounts from a tattoo parlor in Columbus, Ohio.
The NCAA will permit all five to play in the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas on Jan. 4.
“I didn’t mean to hurt nobody at all and I didn’t mean to bring anything down or embarrassment to our university because this is the greatest university in the nation,” Pryor said.
• Iowa RB charged with drug possession: Iowa running back Adam Robinson was charged with possession of marijuana Monday night, putting his career with the Hawkeyes in jeopardy.
• Northern Colorado names head coach: A former Northern Colorado assistant coach has been named as the school’s new coach.
Athletics director Jay Hinrichs said that Ernest Collins Jr. will be the Bears’ 16th football coach.
Niners interview candidate for GM
NFL: San Francisco 49ers team president and CEO Jed York interviewed Tony Softli as the first known candidate to fill the team’s vacant general manager position, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press.
Softli is a former personnel executive with the Carolina Panthers and St. Louis Rams. York fired coach Mike Singletary late Sunday after a 25-17 loss at St. Louis eliminated the 49ers (5-10) from playoff contention, their eighth straight year out of the postseason.
Torrid San Antonio upends Lakers
NBA: Tony Parker scored 23 points and the Spurs, backing up their NBA-best record against the defending champions, beat Kobe Bryant and the reeling Los Angeles Lakers 97-82 at San Antonio.
DeJuan Blair had 17 points and 15 rebounds, leading an unlikely Spurs cast that handed the Lakers their third straight loss while Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili muddled through a dreadful game.
• Nuggets rout Blazers: Chauncey Billups scored 18 points and the short-handed Nuggets snapped a season-high, three-game losing streak by beating the Portland Trail Blazers 95-77 in Denver.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who lost their fifth straight at the Pepsi Center.
Crosby extends streak to 25 games
Hockey: Sidney Crosby scored twice during a four-point night to extend his scoring streak to 25 games, and Pittsburgh won its final home game before the Winter Classic by beating the Atlanta Thrashers 6-3.
Crosby is the first NHL player to have a streak this long since Penguins co-owner Mario Lemieux’s 28-game run to begin the 1995-96 season.
• Calgary GM resigns: Darryl Sutter resigned as general manager of the Calgary Flames.
The NHL team said that assistant GM Jay Feaster will be the acting general manager.
• Player badly injured in World Junior game: Czech Republic defenseman Petr Senkerik was communicating with doctors after being wheeled off the ice on a stretcher during a World Junior Hockey Championship tournament game against Canada in Buffalo, N.Y.
Assistant coach Jiri Fischer said following the 7-2 loss that Senkerik was still being evaluated and was likely to be taken to a hospital for further tests. Senkerik showed little movement for several minutes as he lay flat on his back at center ice after being hit by Canada forward Zack Kassian less than six minutes into the second period of the game.
Spokane Chiefs defenseman Jared Cowen scored for Canada.
Also at the tourney, Kyle Palmieri had two goals and an assist in leading the U.S. team to a 6-1 win over Slovakia in a preliminary round game.
American Vonn falls in overall standings
Miscellany: Tessa Worley of France won a third straight women’s World Cup giant slalom at Semmering, Austria, while second-place Maria Riesch overtook Lindsey Vonn atop the overall standings.
Julia Mancuso of the United States was fifth. Vonn, the three-time overall World Cup champion, finished seventh.
• Skiers injured: World Cup skiers Marco Sullivan of the U.S. and Louis-Pierre Helie of Canada crashed during downhill training at Bormio, Italy, and were airlifted to a hospital. Helie injured his head, his team said. He landed hard and was picked up from the icy Stelvio course by helicopter. Sullivan got up and skied down under his own power.
• Baseball executive Lajoie dies: Longtime baseball executive Bill Lajoie, whose eye for talent helped build the Detroit Tigers team that won the 1984 World Series championship, died Tuesday at Sarasota, Fla. He was 76.