In brief: Fever one win away from WNBA title
WNBA: Tamika Catchings had 14 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists as the Indiana Fever moved within one victory of the WNBA title Sunday with an 86-85 win over the Phoenix Mercury in Game 3 of the finals in Indianapolis.
The Mercury’s Tangela Smith missed a jumper from the foul line as time expired.
The Fever took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 series and can clinch their first championship with a win at home Wednesday.
Ebony Hoffman led the Fever with 18 points. Lewis and Clark graduate Briann January scored 17, including 3 of 4 3-pointers, and Katie Douglas had 15.
Cappie Pondexter led Phoenix with 23 points and Le’Coe Willingham added 17. Diana Taurasi, the league’s MVP, scored 18 points but shot 6-for-16 from the field.
Indiana climbed back into the game in the second half on the strength of January’s shooting. The rookie scored 10 points in the final 1:16 of the third quarter to turn a five-point deficit into a 70-67 lead.
Blind Luck earns Breeders’ Cup bid
Horse racing: Blind Luck overtook Always a Princess in the final sixteenth to win the $300,000 Oak Leaf Stakes for 2-year-old fillies in Arcadia, Calif., and earn an automatic berth in next month’s Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita.
Under Tyler Baze, Blind Luck ran 1 1/16 miles on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface in 1:43.19 to win by 2 1/2 lengths. She paid $9, $4.60 and $3.60 at 7-2 odds.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Always a Princess returned $4.60 and $4 as the 3-1 wagering favorite. Bickersons paid $11.40 to show in her first race on a synthetic surface. It Tiz was fourth in the 11-horse field.
Blind Luck earned a spot in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 6 for trainer and co-owner Jerry Hollendorfer.
•Sea the Stars wins in France: Sea the Stars won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Longchamp, France, Europe’s premier middle-distance horse race.
The 3-year-old colt, a huge favorite following five consecutive wins this season, won Sunday’s event ahead of Youmzain and Cavalryman, according to provisional results.
Davydenko wins third title of year
Tennis: Top-seededed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia defeated Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-4, 7-5 to win the Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur. Davydenko extended his record to 6-1 over Verdasco and gave him a third title this year. He also won the German Open in Hamburg and Croatia Open in Umag.
•Simon wins in Thailand: Gilles Simon of France won the Thailand Open in Bangkok, defeating Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-3 for his first ATP title of the year and sixth overall.
Auburn ranked for first time this season
Miscellany: Rejuvenated Auburn jumped into the Associated Press’ top 25 for the first time this season, landing at No. 17 after improving to 5-0 under new coach Gene Chizik.
No. 23 South Florida (5-0), No. 24 Missouri (4-0) and No. 25 South Carolina (4-1) also moved into the AP poll Sunday. The Bulls and the Gamecocks are in for the first time this season. Missouri was ranked for a week last month.
The top four in the media poll were unchanged. Florida is No. 1, followed by Texas, Alabama and LSU. The Gators play at LSU on Saturday.
Virginia Tech moved up a spot to No. 5 and Boise State slipped one to No. 6 after a lackluster 34-16 victory against UC Davis on Saturday.
Georgia is out of the top 25 for the first time since Dec. 3, 2006, after losing a 20-13 thriller at home to LSU. California is out of the rankings for the first time this season after a second straight lopsided loss, this time to Southern California. Michigan fell out after losing its first game, 26-20 in overtime to Michigan State.
The biggest upset of the weekend came in west Texas, where Houston lost 58-41 to UTEP. The Cougars, ranked 12th last week, fell all the way out of the rankings.
The only new member of the top 10 was TCU, which moved up a spot to 10th.
Oklahoma had the biggest drop among teams still ranked, going from No. 8 to No. 19 after losing 21-20 at Miami. The Sooners are the first team to be ranked with a 2-2 record since Sept. 21, 2003, when Florida was No. 25 after breaking even in its first four games.
USC remained at No. 7 this week. No. 8 Cincinnati jumped ahead of No. 9 Ohio State, putting the Bearcats ahead of the Buckeyes in the rankings for the first time in 58 years.
The USA Today coaches’ poll has the same top seven teams as the AP poll. In the Harris poll, the top four are the same, but Boise State remained No. 5, with Virginia Tech sixth.
■Cubs demote hitting coach: The disappointed Chicago Cubs wasted little time making a change, dropping hitting coach Von Joshua after Sunday’s season finale while offering him a similar spot at Triple-A.
Joshua, a former Spokane Indian, had been promoted from Triple-A Iowa on June 14 when Gerald Perry was fired as hitting coach after 2 1/2 seasons.
The Cubs were batting .246 the day Perry was fired and finished the season at .255. Chicago finished 83-78.