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Geregistreerd op: 25 Okt 2019
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 Geplaatst: 21-11-2019 02:39:46 Onderwerp: backed up Szabados in the gold-medal final |
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| LAS VEGAS -- UCLA went into the season with the uncertainty that comes with a new coach. Cheap Fake Jerseys . The Bruins suffered their share of setbacks, a notable one just a week earlier. Once the Pac-12 tournament got rolling, the Bruins took off. Now, after trading body blows with one of the nations best defensive teams, UCLA takes home a Pac-12 championship in its first season under Steve Alford. Outlasting one of the best closing teams in basketball, UCLA knocked off No. 4 Arizona 75-71 in the conference tournament final on Saturday. "Weve got an edge to us now, its a lot of fun," Alford said. "To win a championship means a lot to us." They definitely earned this one, emerging from a battle of the Pac-12s best teams that featured big plays, big blows and floor burns. The Wildcats locked UCLA down in the second half after an offensive show in the first. The Bruins countered by doing the same thing to Arizona down the stretch, and then made the big plays against the big-play Wildcats to finish it off. UCLA point guard Kyle Anderson was at his all-around best, finishing with 21 points, 15 rebounds and five assists. Jordan Adams made a big 3-pointer with 45 seconds left and scored 19 points. Norman Powell scored 15 points and combined with David Wear to hit four free throws in the final five seconds. After three games in three days, the Bruins are Pac-12 champions and on a big roll headed into the NCAA tournament. "This gives us the confidence that we not only play with anybody, but beat anybody," Alford said. "But youve got to get hot and stay hot." Arizona (30-4) started flat defensively, clawed back behind its offence and shut down the Bruins through most of the second half. The Wildcats were unable to finish it off for one of the rare times this season, hurt by 10 missed free throws and questionable shot selection down the stretch. Nick Johnson led Arizona with 22 points and Kaleb Tarczewski added 12. Aaron Gordon had 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Wildcats, who may have lost out on a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament with the loss. "We lost a game we could have won," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "Jordan Adams hit a great shot and I believe some of the things we learned in todays game will better serve us for the biggest prize, why we all do this, and thats to hopefully advance next week in the NCAA tournament." After 10 games in three days, the Pac-12 tournament came down to UCLA and Arizona, the top two seeds, on a big roll since arriving in Sin City. Arizona, the conferences regular-season champion, overwhelmed its first two opponents with its dont-let-them-breathe defence. The Wildcats raced into the tournament record books with their 32-point win over Utah in the quarterfinals and cranked up the highlight reel in the second half of its semifinal rout over Colorado, allowing 82 combined points in the two games. UCLA swamped Oregon in its opener, turning what was supposed to be a track meet into a stomping. The Bruins did the same thing to Stanford in the semifinals, all but putting the game out of reach in the opening five minutes. These teams met once during the regular season, Jan. 9 in Westwood. Arizona ended a three-game losing streak to the Bruins in that one, escaping with a 79-75 win despite 17 turnovers and blowing a 13-point lead in the final 6 1/2 minutes. UCLA had the advantage early in the rematch by doing what two previous tournament opponents couldnt: Score on the Wildcats. Pushing the pace at every turn, the Bruins got shots seemingly wherever and whenever they wanted. UCLA used a 12-0 run to go up 14-3 and kept pouring em in against one of the nations best defences. The Bruins hit 18 of 31 shots and scored 43 points in the first half -- more than Utah did the entire game against Arizona and matching Colorados total. "They came out and punched us in the mouth," Johnson said. The Wildcats kicked their offence into gear to get back in it, shaking off some questionable shots in the opening minutes with a string of 3-pointers, including three by Gabe York. Arizona shot 16 of 30, including 5 of 8 from the arc, to close to 43-40 at the half. The game turned from an offensive show to a defensive shutdown in the second, every possession a struggle to get off a pass, much less a good shot. Travis Wear and Gordon typified the effort of the entire game late in the half, sprinting from beyond midcourt, simultaneously diving and skidding across the floor for a loose ball. Wear came up with the ball and the Bruins the win, giving them a big notch on the belt in their first season under Alford. Fake Adidas Jerseys . Top-seeded Djokovic, who is making only his second appearance this year after reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over 54th-ranked Istomin of Uzbekistan. "It wasnt as easy as the scoreline indicates," said Djokovic, who has won in Dubai on four occasions. Fake Hockey Jerseys . Correia pitched six innings of one-run ball, Eduardo Escobar homered, and the Minnesota Twins pulled away late to beat the Colorado Rockies 9-3 on Saturday. http://www.fakejersey.com/ . Notes on P.K. Subban, Dale Weise, Erik Haula, Mikael Granlund, Ilya Bryzgalov and more.SOCHI — Kevin Dineen has made up his mind. The Canadian womens Olympic hockey team head coach has decided on his starting goalie for the tournament opener. He even hinted that he has informed her. But whether the starter will be Charline Labonte or Genevieve Lacasse or Shannon Szabados against Switzerland at Shayba Arena on Saturday, the three will remain close teammates and continue to support one another. Theres no jealously here. They just want to win. “Weve been competing against each other since August,” Szabados said. “Were used to it. Its a competition. But its definitely a friendly competition. “We all want to be the one who plays. But were still good friends on and off the ice no matter who gets the call.” If you dont believe Szabados, check out the back of their masks. The three came up with a logo to represent their unity. The symbol is 312, with the numeral one situated slightly higher between the three and the two. Three-one-two may be the area code for Chicago, but for Labonte, Lacasse and Shannon it incorporates their sweater numbers of 1 (Szabados), 31 (Lacasse) and 32 (Labonte). “We have a great relationship,” Lacasse said. “We joke around a lot. Were competitors, but we like to have fun. “We also like to support each other. When one of us is struggling and not in the right place mentally we there with a tap on the pads in support. In the end its all about getting the gold medal.” The three come from different cities, different backgrounds and they each followed different paths to the national team. Mix of youth, experience in net Lacasse is the youngest of the three at 24. Her father was in the military. So she was raised in Fort Henry in Kingston. She became a goalie because her older brother Alex needed someone to take shots on. “I had my share of bloody lips and black eyes, but my Mom would put me up on the kitchen counter and fix me up and send me back out there,” Lacasse said. Fake Basketball Jerseys. . She earned a scholarship to Providence and has begun work on her MBA, which was put on hold this year in order to pursue her Olympic dream. Last season, Lacasse was brilliant in leading the Boston Blades to the Clarkson Cup championship in the CWHL. She was named goaltender of the year with a 1.26 goals against average. The 31-year-old Labonte is the most experienced of the three. Shes been with the national team for 13 years. Shes played with boys and against the boys with the QMJHLs Acadie-Bathurst Titan over two seasons when she was a teenager. Labonte of Boisbriand, Que. went to McGill University and led the Montreal school to back-to-back Canadian titles in 2008 and 2009. In 2010-11, McGill settled for bronze at the national tournament, but Labonte set a Canadian university record with an incredible 37 shutouts. She backed up Szabados in the gold-medal final four years ago in Vancouver. The latter had an outstanding game in blanking the United States. Szabados was raised in Edmonton and her idol was former Oilers netminder Bill Ranford, who had his name etched on the Stanley Cup as a player and as the goalie coach of the 2011-12 Los Angeles Kings. Szabados has attended Ranfords hockey school and they still exchange text messages to this day. Shes been a key player on the national team scene since 2006, earning great reviews with a 3-0 shutout over the U.S. in her debut. She played last season for the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology mens team and helped the Ooks to the their first provincial championship in 16 years. Each of the three have the credentials, but they know one will have to step up and shine if Canada has a shot at its fourth consecutive gold medal. ' ' ' |
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