In brief: UConn wins NCAA-record 71st straight
College women: Tina Charles, Maya Moore and the latest Connecticut Huskies dynasty now has its own place in the record books.
Charles scored 16 points and Moore added 11 to help top-ranked Connecticut win an NCAA-record 71st straight game – a 59-44 victory over No. 6 Notre Dame on Monday night in the semifinals of the Big East tournament at Hartford, Conn.
UConn surpassed its own mark set from Nov. 9, 2001, to March 11, 2003. Unlike that amazing run, which ended in a loss in the Big East conference tournament semifinals to Villanova, this Huskies team has thoroughly dominated its opponents in every game, winning all of them by double digits.
Siena tops Fairfield to win MAAC
College men: Edwin Ubiles scored 27 points and Alex Franklin added 22 points and 12 rebounds as Siena rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit and beat Fairfield 72-65 in overtime to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament at Albany, N.Y., for the third straight season.
•Old Dominion wins CAA tourney: Darius James scored 12 points and Kent Basemore had 10 as top-seeded Old Dominion beat William & Mary 60-53 in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship game at Richmond, Va., to earn the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
•Wofford earns first NCAA berth: Cameron Rundles scored 20 points and Wofford used stifling defense to overcome a long second-half scoring drought and beat Appalachian State 56-51 at Charlotte for the Southern Conference title and its first NCAA tournament berth.
Mavericks winning streak hits 12
NBA: Shawn Marion had a season-high 29 points and 14 rebounds and the Dallas Mavericks stretched the league’s longest active winning streak to 12 straight games with a 125-112 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Minneapolis.
•Parker won’t need surgery on hand: San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker won’t need surgery on his broken right hand, meaning he may be able to return for the playoffs. He is expected to miss about six weeks.
•Nuggets’ Martin expected back: Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin will receive therapy on his aching left knee and is expected to return before the end of the season.
Martin has been playing through persistent pain and swelling in the knee the last few weeks.
Stars rally to beat Ovechkin, Capitals
NHL: Marty Turco made 49 saves, Brad Richards had a goal and an assist, and the Dallas Stars scored three times in six shots early in the third period en route to a 4-3 shootout victory over host Washington, ending the Capitals’ 13-game home win streak.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin snapped a season-high, six-game goal drought by scoring twice to match Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby for the league lead with 44.
Square-shaped grooves out
Golf: The 20-year-old Ping wedges with square-shaped grooves will no longer be allowed on the PGA Tour starting March 29 under an agreement reached with Ping executives.
John Solheim, the chairman and CEO of Ping, said the Phoenix-based company is waiving its right that had kept the PGA Tour from banning Ping Eye2 wedges made before April 1, 1990, that have deeper, wide grooves no longer allowed under new USGA regulations.
Attorney: No sexual assault occurred
NFL: A high-profile defense attorney hired by Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger disputed a college student’s claim that the two-time Super Bowl winner sexually assaulted her at a Georgia night club.
“The facts show that there was no criminal activity. No sexual assault occurred,” attorney Ed Garland said in a statement Monday. “Ben is completely innocent of any crime.”
Roethlisberger has not been charged.
Canadian doctor says HGH was for him
Miscellany: A sports doctor at the center of drug investigations in Canada and the United States said he treated Alex Rodriguez after the Yankees slugger had hip surgery last year and prescribed anti-inflammatories but not human growth hormone.
Dr. Anthony Galea also told the AP an assistant who was stopped at the U.S.-Canadian border in Buffalo, N.Y., last year was carrying only a minuscule amount of HGH – which Galea said was for his own use.
Rodriguez said last week he was “aware” of the investigation and plans to cooperate with the government.