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In brief: Mickelson ties course record, joins Verplank

Defending champion Yani Tseng hits from a bunker to the first green during the third round of the LPGA Kraft Nabisco. (Associated Press)
Defending champion Yani Tseng hits from a bunker to the first green during the third round of the LPGA Kraft Nabisco. (Associated Press)

Golf: Phil Mickelson shot his lowest round in two years on Saturday, tying the course record with a 9-under-par 63 to share the lead with Scott Verplank after three rounds at the Houston Open in Humble, Texas.

Verplank shot his second straight 65 to catch Mickelson at 13-under par.

Aaron Baddeley (66) and second-round leader Chris Kirk (69) were one stroke back, and defending champion Anthony Kim and David Hearn (66) were two behind.

• Tseng grabs lead: Defending champion Yani Tseng roared into the lead at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in Rancho Mirage, Calif., with a third-round 66, moving two shots ahead of Stacy Lewis in the LPGA Tour’s first major of the year.

The top-ranked Tseng is at 12-under 204. She erased playing partner Lewis’ three-shot lead in the first seven holes before going ahead on the 11th hole.

Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., shot a 77 and is at 218.

• Lehman breaks course record: Tom Lehman broke the course record by shooting an 8-under 64, taking a one stroke lead over Jeff Sluman after the second round of the Champions Tour’s Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic at Fallen Oak in Saucier, Miss. Lehman birdied five straight holes on the back nine, starting with a 35-foot putt on No. 12, to charge up the leaderboard after a slow start. He’s 13 under for the tournament.

Bruins wrap up Northeast title

NHL: Michael Ryder scored on a penalty shot with 7:29 left to break a third-period tie and help the Boston Bruins clinch the Northeast Division title with a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers in Boston.

Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots for the Bruins, who lead Montreal by 10 points with four games left.

• Kings one win from playoff spot: Matt Greene scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and the Los Angeles Kings moved within a win of a playoff berth by defeating the Dallas Stars 3-1 in Los Angeles.

Wayne Simmonds had a goal and an assist, Dustin Brown scored and Jonathan Quick stopped 24 shots for Los Angeles, which improved to 7-2-1 in its last 10 games.

Bulls win, close in on East’s top seed

Basketball: Derrick Rose had 36 points and 10 assists, and the Chicago Bulls took another step toward the top seed in the Eastern Conference with their 15th win in 17 games, hanging on to beat the short-handed Toronto Raptors 113-106 in Chicago.

The Bulls lead Miami by three games in the Eastern Conference and are within one of San Antonio for the NBA’s best record.

• Grizzlies move into seventh place: Zach Randolph scored 22 points, O.J. Mayo had 20 and the Memphis Grizzlies cruised past the Minnesota Timberwolves 106-89 at Memphis, Tenn.

Memphis won its fourth straight and seventh in eight games to move a half-game ahead of the New Orleans Hornets for seventh place in the Western Conference.

• Toledo women win NIT: Naama Shafir scored a career-high 40 points and Toledo (29-8) won its first postseason championship in school history with a 76-68 victory over Southern California (24-13) in the women’s NIT title game in Toledo, Ohio.

• Memphis’ Finch dies: Larry Finch, who coached his alma mater Memphis for 11 seasons after a brief pro basketball career as a player, died in Memphis, Tenn., at age 60. The cause of death is not yet known.

Finch suffered a debilitating stroke in 2002 at age 51. In October 2010, he was hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia.

• Moore women’s player of the year again: Connecticut’s Maya Moore is in a class by herself. Her coach will have to share his award.

Moore is The Associated Press women’s basketball player of the year, becoming the third two-time winner.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma shared coach of the year honors with Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer and Miami’s Katie Meier.

Moore joined Seimone Augustus of LSU and Chamique Holdsclaw of Tennessee as the only two-time winners.

Ford, Mancuso earn super-G titles

Miscellany: Tommy Ford and Julia Mancuso notched super-G titles at the U.S. alpine ski championships in Winter Park, Colo. They both also won giant slalom crowns at nationals this week.

Ford, of Bend, Ore., has won the last five U.S. events he’s entered.

• Wlodarczyk retains WBC cruiserweight title: Krzysztof Wlodarczyk of Poland retained his WBC cruiserweight boxing title with a split decision over Francisco Palacios of Puerto Rico in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

• Timbers earn first MLS point: Jack Jewsbury scored in the 38th minute and the expansion Portland Timbers (0-2-1) earned their first point in Major League Soccer with a 1-1 tie against the New England Revolution (1-0-2) in Foxborough, Mass.

• England beats U.S. women: England beat the U.S. women’s soccer team for the first time since 1988, handing the top-ranked Americans a 2-1 exhibition defeat in London.

Winger Jess Clarke put the home side ahead in the eighth minute at Leyton Orient’s Matchroom Stadium and England led 2-0 when Rachel Yankey scored 18 minutes later.

Megan Rapinoe got a goal back for the U.S. 6 minutes before halftime, but England held on for just its second win over the Americans and a morale boost ahead of the June 26-July 17 World Cup in Germany.