Month: April 2014

Spurs too much for Warriors

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By George Devine, Sr.

Despite a 16-5 run by Golden State in the third, the Spurs dominated as they beat the Warriors, 111-90. This win extends San Antonio’s streak to 19 games and its lead over the Thunder to four games, which augurs very well for them in the playoffs. Tonight’s victory marks 31 straight wins at San Antonio over Golden State and a sweep of the season series.

Leading the charge for the home team was Tony Parker with 18 points and 8 assists. Manu Ginobili and Patty Mills scored a baker’s dozen apiece. Marco Belinelli had 12 and Kawhi Leonard had 11.

For Golden State, Marreese Speights scored 22, and had 9 rebounds; Jordan Crawford hit for 16. Klay Thompson had 15 points and Stephen Curry scored 11. With 6:23 to go in the third period, Thompson’s second trey narrowed the lead to 71-61 and Speights, two minutes later, cut it to 74-67 on two free throws, on an evening when Golden State was 100% from the charity stripe. Speights was particulary strong from the inside and was 10 for 16 in field goals. But the Spurs could not be stopped: San Antonio jumped out to a 17 point lead in the first frame, and although the visitors cut it to seven in the third quarter, the Spurs then went on a 13-0 run to end the quarter.

Andrew Bogut, David Lee and Festus Ezeli all rested, and one can only wonder how much better Golden State could have done with a full complement.

Turnovers were abundant, as each team had 13. The Warriors actually had higher percentages on field goals from beyond the three-point line (38-21) but trailed in all other statistical categories excepting free throws, where they missed none and the Spurs shot a usually respectable 86%.

Kings Hold Off Lakers

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by Tony Renteria

The battle for last place in the Pacific Division continued Wednesday night at Sleep Train Arena as the Sacramento KIngs(26-48) took a nice second half lead and held on in the fourth quarter to beat the Los Angles Lakers(25-49) 107-102.

The Kings win their second game in a row by some high scoring by forward Rudy Gay, Gay finished with 31 points in just under 43  minutes.  Gay has be averaging 20.2 ppg since his arrival in Sacramento.   DeMarcus Cousins chipped in with 20 points and ten rebounds.

The Lakers are already looking forward to next season with star Kobi Bryant out with injury.  The Lakers were led by guard Jodie Meeks with 21 points.  The Lakers had beaten the Kings all three times they had faced this season before tonight.  

The Lakers head to Dallas on Friday while the Kings host Golden State on the same day.

 

Kazmir Shines, Bats Break Out For A’s First Win Of 2014

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By Matthew Harrington

The first game of Tuesday’s twin bill between the Oakland Athletics and Cleveland Indians didn’t have the same pageantry or anticipation as Monday night’s Opening Day game at O.Co. That’s just fine for the A’s (1-1), who also welcomed a different end result, erasing the doubts of a 2-0 season-opening loss with a 6-1 thumping of the Tribe (1-1).

Left-hander Scott Kazmir (1-0, 0.00 ERA) fired 7 1/3 innings of three-hit, shutout baseball and an Oakland offense that stranded nine runners and mustered only five hits in Monday’s home opener exploded for a dozen base knocks and six runs. Tribe starter Corey Kluber (0-1, 13.50 ERA) departed after just 3 1/3 innings after surrendering five earned runs. Kazmir, facing the club that signed him to a career-reviving contract last season, quickly received the kind of run support Opening Day starter Sonny Gray is still waiting for.

After the southpaw dispatched the Indians in order in the first, center fielder Coco Crisp opened the A’s first at-bat by lacing the Corey Kluber 1-1 delivery to center. Designated hitter Josh Donaldson took strike three looking but Crisp put swiped his first bag of the season with to put himself in scoring position Jed Lowrie at the plate. Crisp then advanced to third on a deep pop fly by the shortstop. First baseman Brandon Moss drew a walk before Yoenis Cespedes brought Crisp home on a single to right for the first A’s run of the season. Josh Reddick grounded out to end the threat with the home team leading 1-0.

The bottom of the second mirrored the first with third baseman Alberto Callaspo and catcher Derek Norris, both making their season debuts Tuesday afternoon, singling back-to-back and second baseman Eric Sogard drawing a walk. With the bases loaded and no outs, Crisp lofted a sacrifice fly that plated Callaspo and moved Norris 90 feet from home plate.

Oakland Manager Bob Melvin used the first coach’s challenge in A’s history on the next batter after Donaldson bounced into a fielder’s choice. Carlos Santana fielded the grounder at the hot corner and fired home to cut an advancing Norris down at the plate. Melvin challenged the out ruling, but after 4 minutes and 45 seconds of deliberation it was ruled that there was insufficient evidence to overturn the call. Lowrie brought Sogard around from second on a single in the next at bat before Moss closed out the inning on a fly out to right fielder Elliot Johnson to strand a pair of runners.

For the third-straight inning, a member of the green and gold crossed home plate. Callaspo smoked a liner over right field wall with Reddick on first following a one-out walk to stake Oakland to a 5-0 edge with a third of the game played. Moss completed the A’s scoring by doubling in Lowrie on a 3-1 Vinnie Pestano fastball in the sixth. In total, the A’s three-though-seven hitters went a combined 8-for-19 after the heart of the line-up collected one hit in 15 trips to the plate Monday night.

Kazmir spared the A’s bullpen for the second half of Wednesday’s bizarre early season day-night double-header, a make-up of the first rain-out in 15 years at O.Co Tuesday night. One season removed from a 10-9, 4.04 ERA season with the Indians, allowed only four base runners with no walks and only one extra-base hit, a double by Mike Aviles with one out in the eighth inning that chased Kazmir. Aviles represented the first member of the Tribe to reach third base when Yan Gomes welcomed A’s reliever Dan Otero into the game with a ground out that advanced the runner. Aviles remained stranded at third after Elliot Johnson bounced out to Sogard for the third out

The Indians broke up the shutout, scoring in the ninth inning, their second-straight game against the A’s where they plated a run in the ninth after new Oakland closer Jim Johnson surrendered two runs in Monday night’s game to get saddled with the loss. Jason Kipnis doubled with two outs and Santana’s line drive single off Otero brought him home. Otero coaxed Ryan Raburn to ground out softly to the pitcher’s mound to finish off the game and seal the A’s 6-1 win.

The A’s enter the second of Wednesday’s two-game set in perfect position with only one reliever exhausted. Tribe starter Zach McAllister will be called on by Indians’ manager Terry Francona to go deep into the P.M. tilt after using four different relievers in the afternoon session. For Melvin’s A’s it will be right-hander Josh Lindblom on the bump. Lindblom was called as part of the special 26-man roster allotted for double-headers up to start game two over expected rotation candidates Dan Straily, Jesse Chavez and Tommy Milone. Lindblom appeared in eight games, including the only five starts he’s made over three seasons, pitching 31.1 innings with a 5.46 ERA.

A’s rained out, still talking about Barton’s gaffe from the opener

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By Morris Phillips

The first Oakland A’s rainout in 16 seasons meant the discussion didn’t have to stop. Twenty-four hours later, A’s fans are still talking about what happened and what should have happened with Daric Barton on the base paths in the eighth inning on Monday.

When it didn’t happen—Barton failed to score from second base on Josh Donaldson’s bomb that bounced off the top of the wall in dead center field—and the next two A’s batters failed to reach, the A’s and Indians’ opening night battle of wills remained scoreless into the ninth.

That’s when Cleveland pushed across two runs against new A’s closer Jim Johnson and the A’s fell for the 10th consecutive time in their season opener.

Afterwards, Daric Barton was vilified on Twitter, supported by his manager Bob Melvin, and Cleveland manager Terry Francona almost stayed above the fray by cryptically saying “that was interesting.”

What happened on the play was Barton attempted to tag up at second base with runners on first and second and one out. With Donaldson’s ball hit to dead center, it’s Barton’s read—he’s has the better vantage point than either of the base coaches—and Barton obviously felt the ball could be caught by center fielder Nyjer Morgan.

But then Josh Donaldson’s blast hit off the top of the wall, bounded up and somehow stayed in the park. Morgan fielded it cleanly, and got the ball back into the infield quickly.   Barton tagged up in keeping with his read of the ball’s flight path, and got to third. Trail runner Coco Crisp also was on the move and got to second.

But with one out, the smart play is to go halfway and prepare to score on the ball if it isn’t caught. If it were no outs, Barton should have been leaning towards second base and been close enough to tag up, surely beating Morgan’s throw back into the infield, and setting up a first and third with one out situation.

But apparently, Barton misread the ball’s flight and trajectory, and he failed to get halfway between the bags.

Donaldson’s reaction was swift. He threw his hands up rounding first base, and seemingly couldn’t believe his teammate was only standing at third. Afterwards, the A’s third basemen took the high road.

“We make mistakes in this game. I’m sure if it went that way again, it would be handled differently,” he said, measuring his words carefully.

With 161 games to go, and two of those on Wednesday in the Coliseum’s first day, night doubleheader, it would be foolish for the team and manager Bob Melvin to overreact. But it points out a couple of important points that Melvin needs to connect the successes of his back-to-back division champs to the aspirations of this year’s team.

They need to win close games, and they’ll need to be more mentally in tune as the season continues in order to grab those tight ones.

On Tuesday, it just didn’t happen. And when the next game rains out, the discussion continues for another day.

That’s the nature of rainouts, and that’s baseball.

NOTES: The A’s signed Joe Blanton to a minor league deal, giving the former A’s player a chance to impact this team’s fortunes six seasons after he left Oakland in 2008. Blanton hardly bounced around since leaving, pitching for the Phillies for five seasons and the Angels last year, with 10 starts for the Dodgers in 2012 in between stints with the Philadelphia.

Blanton won’t be one of the pitchers that the A’s will consider calling up for the nightcap of the doubleheader to keep the pitching rotation from being thrown off going into the weekend. Drew Pomeranz is on the roster and could get the start. If not, the A’s could call up Joe Savery, Josh Lindblom or Arnold Leon to make the spot start.

Sharks come back from behind to beat Oilers

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By Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — It was a wild game at the SAP Center on Tuesday night when Sharks faced Edmonton Oilers. While it turned out a 5-4 victory for the home team, it wasn’t a game that the Sharks were proud of, having lost a two-goal lead in the game, and having have to come back from behind to earn the two points.

“It was a bittersweet win,” said Todd McLellan after the game. “It was nice to see us come back and score five, and the power play contributed. Those types of things are nice but I’m going to leave the rink a little more frustrated than excited. I’m sure some of the players will leave that way too.”

It all started well for the Sharks, with a quick goal just 3:11 into the game. It was Sharks fourth line putting the pressure on the opposing top line inside the Oilers zone that resulted in the turnover picked up by Jason Demers. He skated deeper into the zone and passed it to Tyler Kennedy on the ring wing. Sharks forward took the shot and Andrew Desjardins scored his third goal of the season on a rebound. But the Sharks went into a deep sleep for the next 10 minutes and had a stretch of no shots that lasted that long. Oilers in the meantime tied the game on apower play when Taylor Hall scored with a snap shot from the face-off circle. But Sharks began playing again as the period was ending and Dan Boyle put them ahead when he scored on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle, scoring his 11th goal of the season.

Sharks took 3-1 lead in the second period on a goal by Tommy Wingels. They looked confident for a while creating all kind of chances inside the Oilers territory and should have put the game away. But the game took a surprising turn when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle scored two quick goals within 30 seconds of each other and tied the game at 3-3 heading into second intermission.

Oilers then took the 4-3 lead in the third period 6:16 into it when Nugent-Hopkins scored his second of the night from close range after getting a quick pass from Jordan Eberle who made a great play skating around Matt Irwin inside Sharks zone.

The goal seemed to have woken up the Sharks one more time. They started played with more urgency and speed, finishing their checks and dominating puck possession.

The change have paid off, and they not only tied the game when Brent Burns scored in front of the empty net after across the crease pass from Joe Thornton, but when they took the lead three minutes later as Patrick Marleau scored just 6 seconds into the power play, his 32nd on the season.

While they earned the two important point, coach wasn’t happy.

“We weren’t where we needed to be. We gave up too much, we were sloppy. We will not trusting each other. To play the system, we’ve got to fix that quickly before the playoffs roll around. Before Thursday gets here. We are going to face a very good team [LA Kings], that plays a disciplined game, that plays for the full sixty. They don’t take many off, so we have to get fixed over the next day or two.”

Curry Surprises Jackson With Buzzer-Beater Over Mavs In OT On Coach’s Birthday

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By Matthew Harrington
Warriors coach Mark Jackson received quite the birthday gift from his All-star guard Tuesday night at American Airlines Arena in Dallas. Stephen Curry hit the game-winning shot with .1 seconds remaining in overtime to cap a Golden State 122-120 upheaval of the Dallas Mavericks (44-31). As coach Jackson blew out the 49 candles on his cake, the Dubs created a little bit of breathing room in the Western Conference playoff picture. Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs entered play Tuesday with 44 wins, just one less than their foes from California. The Warriors (46-28) have two games in hand over Dallas.

Curry’s game-winner in the extra session, his third career buzzer-beating basket, was a culmination of a 43-minute, 23-point effort. Fellow guard Klay Thompson topped Golden State on 27 points, going 11-for-24 from the field including 4-of9 from downtown. Jermaine O’Neal, starting at center with Andrew Bogut not making the trip nursing a sore groin and David Lee in street clothes for the third-straight game, picked up 20 points and 8 rebounds. Marreese Speights’ 9 rebounds paced the Warriors.

Ex-Warrior Monta Ellis did his best to sink his former franchise, shooting 11-for-23 with 27 points. Mavs perennial All-Star Nowitzki contributed a game-high 33 points over 39 minutes of play and converted the double-double on a game-high 11 boards.

The Warriors connected on a blistering 57.1 shooting percentage, making 52 shots on 91 attempts including nearly half (15) of their 31 shots from beyond the arc. Mark Cuban’s club held the advantage in turnovers, forfeiting possession 8 times to the visitors’ 12. The Mavericks somehow managed to keep Golden State from going to the free throw line for the entirety of the second half.

The Warriors overpowered their hosts in the first, racing out to a 30-21 lead after twelve minutes of play. Dallas bombarded Golden State with 41 second-quarter points, the most the Warriors have yielded in a single frame this season, while limiting the visitors to 23 points for a 62-53 halftime edge.

It took the Warriors nearly ten minutes of play in the third to catch up to Dallas when Speights rolled in a layup to make it 78-all before Vince Carter hit one of two free throws to restore the slim Mavs one-point edge. The Warriors would score seven of the last nine points for an 85-81 lead after three frames.

Dallas capped a 10-5 run to open the fourth with a Carter basket to pull ahead 91-90 nearly four minutes in to the final stanza of regulation. The Warriors briefly wrestled the lead back from their foes but found themselves trailing 106-102 with 1:43 until the final horn. Andre Iguodala and Thompson sandwiched three-pointers around an Ellis jumper to knot things up a 108 a piece with a minute left but that would be the last basket of regulation as the teams would require an five-minute overtime to decide the victor.

Dallas opened the final five minutes on a Dirk jumper before Jermaine O’Neal hit only one of two free throws to pull the Warriors within one at 110-109. O’Neal represented the first Warrior to head to the charity stripe since Thompson completed the and-1 play with 2:55 left in the second quarter. From there the two teams would go shot-for-shot over the next five baskets before a Thompson trey preceded a Curry 16-foot jumper to put the Dubs up 118-117 over halfway through OT.

The Mavs’ Jose Calderon responded with a three of his own before O’Neal took a Draymon Green feed to the rim to knot things up at 120-all. The Warriors were looking for a quick basket to force a last-possession chance, a goal achieved when Green connected with O’Neal with 28 seconds left.

On the penultimate Dallas possession of the game, Ellis tried to take the winning shot but he was rejected on the layup by O’Neal. On the next Warrior possession Curry connected on the off-balance jumper with a tenth of a second remaining. The Mavs couldn’t connect on the in-bound deflection play, and after a brief review, the Warriors win was official.

Golden State looks to give Jackson a second belated gift Wednesday evening. They continue on to a showdown in San Antonio with the Spurs at the AT&T Center where they haven’t won since Valentine’s Day of 1997, just six days before then 31-year-old point guard Jackson was dealt from the Denver Nuggets back to the Indiana Pacers. After the second leg of the Texas road trip the Warriors return to the West Coast for a showdown with in-state rivals, the Sacramento Kings, Friday night at Oracle Arena.

Oilers Fall To Sharks, Decide To Stay

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oilers 0017.jpg

By Kahlil Najar and Emily Zahner

The Edmonton Oilers lost a tough game to the San Jose Sharks tonight 5-4. With this being their 41 loss of the season Oilers General Manager Craig MacTavish said that the team has no plans of leaving the SAP Center.

“No. We’re not leaving. We’re staying here,” said MacTavish while hiding behind a desk and holding a stapler like a gun. “We’re just going to stay here until the rest of the season is over. We don’t want to go home.”

The Oilers are coming off of one of their worst seasons in the last few years and it’s easy to see why they wouldn’t want to leave. The Oilers have underperformed for the whole year and have let many Oiler fans lost in their search for the Oilers of old.

“Go ahead…stay!” said Norman Hull, a long time Oilers fan. “These guys keep playing with me. We get some great players here and there but then fall flat during the season. I hope San Jose gets better use out of them that we did.”

Mr. Hull isn’t alone in his statements. Ms. Celaneus an inspiring journalist at the University of Alberta said “They were cool back in the day. But now I don’t even know who they are. Is Gretzky still on the team? I’m more into the Scripps National Spelling Bee.”

Oilers Captain Andrew Ference and popular assistant captains Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent Hopkins were all seen attempting to leave the SAP Center after the game on San Jose Sharks mascot Sharkie’s four wheeler. Unfortunately they weren’t able to find a way out so they just kept riding the SUV around in circles around the rink. “It’ll run out of gas soon…they’ll be tired and we can take them home when they pass out,” said Head Coach Dallas Eakins.

Ryan Smith who has been on the team for the longest tenure said that he could tell this was happening when something odd happened after the second. “I asked where my stuff is after the second period and no one was around. I was literally in the locker room talking to myself. I thought I heard someone but then when I went to look I just saw a metal door closing. We’ll be fine. They have a lot of cool stuff in here. I think I saw a XBOX in the back. I hope they have COD.”

The Oilers next face the Ducks in Anaheim but it doesn’t look likely since the team has all dispersed into various parts of the Bay Area. Rumors of trips to Pixar, Fairyland and Great America were running rampant in the hallways of SAP.

In an odd bit of news, San Jose SaberCats Quarterback Nathan Stanley showed up at the pre-game conference in full gear and said “oh… that’s right. Friday… sorry. Hi Mom!” Stanley wasn’t available immediately following the conference.

 

 

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY FROM SPORTS RADIO SERVICE!!!

Giants lose replay appeal, 5-4 game to D-Backs

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By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Tuesday, April 1, 2014

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Welcome to Major League Baseball’s new age of replay reviews on close calls. And it was a rousing success Tuesday night at Chase Field, depending on what side of the fence you’re sitting on.

The San Francisco Giants gave the new replay option a try in the fourth inning of their 5-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and came up empty. The Snakes wound up the beneficiaries.

In the Arizona fourth, A.J. Pollock singled with one out and, after a pickoff throw by Giants starter Matt Cain to first baseman Brandon Belt was ruled in favor of Pollock, Giants manager Bruce Bochy challenged the ruling on Belt’s tag.

No sooner was the challenge denied that Pollock moved from first to third on a double by Gerrardo Parra. With Aaron Hill at the plate, catcher Buster Posey allowed a Cain pitch to skip away for a passed ball. With Cain covering the plate, Posey’s throw appeared to be in time, but home plate umpire Eric Cooper ruled that Pollock avoided the tag.

The play at the plate appeared to be another perfect scenario for the Giants to ask for a replay ruling, except you only get one challenge per game. Bochy explained after the game that “if there’s a situation where we feel a challenge is necessary, we’re going to use it.”

“Now, that doesn’t mean it’s going to get overturned if the play is not conclusive enough in their eyes, “ Bochy continued. “In our eyes, it looked like (Pollock) was out. What else are you going to do if you don’t think they got the call right? Unfortunately, they’re not all going to go your way and get overturned. That’s the gamble you take.

“Sure, there could be another play (to review), but you don’t know that.”

Television replays showed that Cain made the tag before Pollock reached the plate, cutting the San Francisco lead to 4-3.

“At that point, you just hang with it,” Bochy said. “You’ve lost your challenge, and this is how the system works. You just don’t know if your going to get a different call that you wish you could challenge.

“That replay took a long time (over three minutes to review), and it probably could have gone either way,” he added. “This is going to change the strategy in the game and how to manage a game.”

“It’s tough to come back and pitch after a long delay, but (the umpires) are just trying to get the play right,” Cain said. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”

The Giants’ righthander saw it that way as well, adding that he “crossed Buster up” on the pitch.

“He was out,” Cain said without hesitation. “I had him. I saw what Cooper saw as (Pollock) went over the plate. He kind of went through the top of my glove to go over it. But it was a bang-bang play, and Pollock did a good job of trying to avoid the tag.”

Cain worked five innings, threw 99 pitches and wound up with a no-decision. He gave up seven hits, struck out two, walked two and was charged with two earned runs.

“I just wasn’t getting ahead of guys at the beginning,” Cain said. “That hurt to give up a couple of runs after the guys scored four for me. That’s not what you want to do. After the first, I just wanted to throw good strikes and not be too fine. Sometimes you try to make perfect pitches, so I tried to get their guys to put the ball in play and let my stuff work.”

“Matt was fine. His pitches were up a little bit, but he settled down after the first inning,” Bochy said. “He threw the ball fairly well.”

D-Backs starter Wade Miley (1-1) gave up four runs in the first inning – the key blow was a three-run blast by Belt, his second of the season. But Miley settled into a groove and shut the Giants out over the next six innings to earn his first win of the season. Miley struck out five, walked one, and gave up only two hits after the first inning.

“That kind of did us in,” Bochy said. “We put up a crooked number in the first inning and couldn’t score again. Going eight innings in this ballpark without getting another run came back to haunt us.”

Arizona surged ahead with a pair of runs in the sixth inning off reliever Juan Gutierrez (0-1). With one out, Chris Owings singled, stole second and scored on Pollock’s ground-rule double to left-center field. Pollock moved to third on an opposite field single by the left-handed hitting Miley and scored on Parra’s sacrifice fly to left – sliding in just ahead of a strong throw by Juan Perez.

The Diamondbacks’ maligned bullpen (29 blown saves in 2013) came through on a 74-degree evening with the roof open. Will Harris and Addison Reed combined for four strikeouts and a walk in the last two innings. Reed notched his first save.

Pollock was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Parra, Owings and Paul Goldschmidt each collected two hits in the Diamondbacks’ 11-hit attack. Goldschmidt’s RBI double in the second inning extended his hitting streak to 23 games.

Wednesday night, veteran righthander Tim Hudson makes his regular-season debut for the Giants, facing Arizona righthander Trevor Cahill.

GIANTS JOTTINGS: Buster Posey’s home run on Monday night was given an official measurement of 453 feet, the longest of his career. His previous longest tape-measure job was 443 feet on July 13, 2012, vs. Houston at AT&T Park. … According to Stats, Inc., the last time the Giants won on Opening Day after trailing by four-plus runs was on April 10, 1968, at Candlestick Park; the Giants trailed the New York Mets 4-0 and won 5-4. The last time the Giants accomplished the same feat on the road was on April 15, 1941 at Ebbets Field; the New York Giants trailed the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-0 and won 6-4.

(TAGS: San Francisco Giants,Arizona Diamondbacks,replay)

Stanford Returns to Final Four for Sixth Time in Last Seven Years After Win Over North Carolina in Regional Final

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Ogwumike Cuts Down the Net

By: Joe Lami

STANFORD, Calif.–The Stanford Cardinal are headed to Nashville for their sixth Final Four in the last seven years, after they defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels 74-65 in front of a packed home crowd of 6,145 on Tuesday night.  This will be the 12th time in program history, and the 11th under Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer where the Cardinal will be advancing to the Final Four.

The Tar Heels controlled much of the first half, after Stanford was on the board first.  Both teams shot poorly for the first couple of minutes.  At the first media time out North Carolina was leading 5-2, with the Tar Heels shooting 40% from the field, and the Cardinal only 20%.  Out of the timeout the Tar Heels pored it on, knocking down the next six of seven shots.  Five of which came from beyond the arc to give UNC a 22-9 lead 8:10 into the game.  Alisha Gray was the difference maker in the run as she shot four for four from the field, three of which came from the three-point line.

Stanford would come right back however, in the next four minutes they went onto a 11-4 run to cut the deficit to 26-20.  Stanford would get North Carolina’s lead within one point with 4:25 left in the first half, when Chiney Ogwumike would make a lay-up.  Ogwumike was held to a season low four points in the first half, as the North Carolina defense was very aggressive with her down low.  As Head Coach of the Tar Heels, Andrew Calder, would say “Being physical to Ogwumike is the key to beating her.”  At some points of the contest three different Tar Heels would be guarding the All-American to shut her down.  The Tar Heels would go into the halftime break with a 36-30 lead.

The first half saw some tremendous shooting, especially from beyond the arc.  North Carolina shot just over 53% from three-point land, knocking down seven of 13 shots from long range.  On top of Gray’s three, Xylina McDaniel would hit two.  Stanford wasn’t as strong from long distance, but the three’s they hit came at crucial times keeping them in the game.  Amber Orrange and Bonnie Samuelson both knocked down two.

Stanford made their push to comeback in the first couple of minutes of the second half.  A 18-6 run powered by amazing three-point shooting would be enough to give them the 48-42 lead.  Mikaela Ruef would be the one to do it as well, making it a big shocker.  Ruef came into the game with only six three-pointers in her entire career, knocked three of them down with 15-minutes remaining in the second half.  “We played the percentages, Ruef made the threes and changed the game, she was the x-factor tonight” said Calder.

The amazing outside shooting from Ruef would eventually open up the play down low for Ogwumike.  Once being triple-teamed, she was able to get single coverage and take over, scoring 16 points in the second half, on route to her 26th double double of the season.  “It was the best game that she (Ruef) had played in a Staford uniform” exclaimed Stanford Head Coach, Tara VanDerveer.

Stanford would gain their biggest lead at eight just over the halfway point of the second half, but the Tar Heels weren’t finished yet.  They went on 17-8 run to retake the lead with four minutes to go.  The Cardinal regained their composure after a 30-second timeout taken, giving them one final push to win the game.  Stanford was up three with 92-seconds remaining when UNC began to foul.  The Cardinal were perfect on their foul shots to up their lead to nine to end the game.

Five Stanford scorers got into double figures, the most since Jan 27.  Ogwumike lead the way for Stanford with 20 points.  Ruef was right behind her with 17, and ended just one rebound shy of completing her second double double in as many games.  Orrange was next in line, as she finished with 14, she was also the only Stanford player to play all 40 minutes. Samuelson knocked down three 3-pointers on her way to 13 points.  The three 3-pointers up Samuelson’s tournament total to 14, giving the lead in the tournament.  Lili Thompson was the final player to hit double figures for the Cardinal, as the Freshman finished with ten points in 38 minutes played.

UNC’s Gray tapered off in the second half, scoring only four points, as the Stanford defense targeted in on her.  She still lead the way for the Tar Heels with 19 points.  The only other double figure scorer for UNC was Diamond DeShields, who finished with 13, nine of which came in the second half.

The Cardinal finish out their season perfect at Maples Pavilion, as they move onto Nashville.  Next up for Stanford is the number one team in the country in Connecticut.  UConn was the first team to beat Stanford this year, in the second game of the season.  “I think we improved a lot since the first time we played them, and we’ll be ready for whatever game plan the coaches give us” commented Thompson in preparation for UConn.  VanDerveer added that “playing them already help us.”

Kings downtown arena: Not so fast, Kings face another road block in eminent domain case

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–George Speir who represents the U.S. Bank certified co-owners of the vacant Macy’s men’s store building located at the eastern end of the downtown plaza are the only group that is holding out to sell the vancant department store. The last piece of the puzzle that will open the path for construction for the Sacramento Kings to build their new arena.

The City took the owners of the Macy’s building to court and won an eminent domain judgement to purchase the building from owners CalPERS and the certified owners for $4.35 million back on March 15th. The certified owners said the building selling price should be at $10 million and that the certified owners own the building would not get their fair share as the certified owners say the building and property is worth more than double than the $4.35 million that the city and the Kings are paying. CalPERS owns the property land portion and have agreed to sell their share.

A ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Raymond Cadei that the property maybe sold to the city and the Kings for $4.35 million for the benefit of the city while the building is not doing any good sitting empty and CalPERS and the certified owners would lose any business by selling an empty buidling. CalPERS had no problem with selling their share but the certified owners said they’d be shortchanged in the deal. Speir says that the case will now be brought to the 3rd District Court of Appeals even though the city of Sacramento is in control of the property.

While the appeal is pending that further pushes back the time deadline set by the NBA of fall 2017 to have the arena finished, groundbreaking is scheduled for late spring (May). The NBA said that if the arena is not in place and ready to go by fall of 2017 the team will be forced to leave Sacramento and will be moved to another city.

Speir wrote on court documents that the certified owners rights are being violated and that Cadei’s ruling was a rush to judgement and that the certified owners case needs to be heard out, “the city’s needs are not grounds for taking shortcuts and ignoring the (owners) property rights.”

Assistant City manager John Dangberg said the timeline is a major factor in play now that the certified owners have filed an appeal “failure to achieve possession of the property by April 2014 will put the arena project at significant risk (and development) would come to a halt” said Dangberg.

Further the certified owners say the lawsuit filed by the city for eminent domain only covered the land and property which CalPERS owns and not the building which the certified owners own. The city and the Kings are basically $5 million apart from the $4.35 million purchase price of the vacant building which the certified owners will most likely be asking for. The Kings who have purchased most of the downtown plaza at $36 million or more than 96 percent of the mall property, may have to haggle these last $5 million with the certified owners in the court of appeals.

Ken Gimblin is covering the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors arena developments for Sportstalk radio