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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Shiffrin earns 1st World Cup win in Sweden

Mikaela Shiffrin, of U.S., won World Cup slalom race in Sweden. (Associated Press)
From Staff And Wire Reports

Skiing: American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin won her first World Cup event on Thursday, putting down a perfect second run to win a night slalom ahead of home favorite Frida Hansdotter.

Under the floodlights on the Olympia course in Are, Sweden, the 17-year-old Shiffrin finished with a combined time of 1 minute, 45.36 seconds.

Shiffrin was second after the first run and was given quite a challenge by overall World Cup leader Tina Maze, who had a blazing second run to take a large lead just before the American was to ski.

But Shiffrin kept her composure in a run that was even faster, setting a time that first-run leader Hansdotter couldn’t match.

American Lindsey Vonn skipped the race, having taken a break to fully recover from an intestinal illness.

NHL cancels games through Jan. 14

Hockey: The NHL announced more cancellations that eliminate games from its original 2012-13 schedule through Jan. 14. If the league were to begin on Jan. 15, reports say the most games that could be played would be a 48-game season. Commissioner Gary Bettman said after the breakdown of labor talks on Dec. 6 that the league would not accept anything less than a 48-game season.

Timberwolves snap Thunder’s win streak

NBA: J.J. Barea scored 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter and the Minnesota Timberwolves ended Oklahoma City’s 12-game winning streak with a 99-93 victory over the Thunder in Minneapolis.

Kevin Love had 28 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for Minnesota. Kevin Durant had 33 points and Russell Westbrook added 30 for the Thunder, who had not lost a game since Nov. 23 at Boston.

• Blazers defeat Nuggets for 4th straight win: J.J. Hickson had 18 points and 18 rebounds for his sixth straight double-double, and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 101-93 in Portland.

Nicolas Batum had 22 points to give the Blazers their first four-game winning streak of the season despite missing forward LaMarcus Aldridge because of a sprained left ankle.

• Team component added to NBA All-Star weekend: The NBA’s All-Star Saturday night is adding a team component, with the Eastern and Western conferences competing for $500,000 in charity. They will earn points based on the results of the night’s exhibition events held Feb. 16 in Houston.

Cal State Northridge upsets No. 12 UCLA

Women’s basketball: Ashlee Guay scored a career-high 28 points and freshman Marta Masoni made a season-high six 3-pointers and Cal State Northridge upset No.12 UCLA 77-72 in Los Angeles. UCLA (7-2) pulled to 74-71 on a 3-pointer by Nirra Fields before the Matadors (6-4) made four free throws to snap a five-game winning streak by the Bruins.

Duquesne women upset No. 24 West Virginia: Wumi Agunbiade netted 15 points as Duquesne (11-1) pulled an upset over No. 24 West Virginia, escaping with a 62-54 victory in Morgantown, W.V. The win was the second straight for Duquesne against West Virginia (7-3) following an 11-game losing streak in the series.

It’s official, Andersen new Wisconsin coach

Miscellany: Gary Andersen is Wisconsin’s new football coach. Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez made the announcement and Andersen will be officially introduced today.

The 48-year-old Andersen just completed his fourth and best season at Utah State. The 18th-ranked Aggies finished 11-2 with a bowl victory over Toledo and won the Western Athletic Conference.

• Kelly: Ducks cooperated with probe: Oregon football coach Chip Kelly said the Ducks have cooperated with the NCAA investigation into the use of recruiting services.

Kelly spoke after practice, addressing a Yahoo Sports report the day before that Oregon is likely headed toward a hearing with the NCAA committee on possible infractions because the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement on appropriate sanctions. The Ducks are preparing to play Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3 in Glendale, Ariz.

NYC Marathon runners can get refund: New York City Marathon runners can receive a refund of their entry fee after this year’s race was canceled because of Superstorm Sandy.

When the event was called off last month, officials said they had a no-refund policy but had not made a final decision on whether to make an exception. Organizer New York Road Runners informed entrants that they could obtain a refund or receive a guaranteed spot in the 2013, 2014 or 2015 race.