Sports Shorts
Basketball
LH-Uniontown tickets
Laurel Highlands reserved season ticket holders will be offered tickets for the Uniontown-Laurel Highlands boys basketball game to be played on Thursday, Dec. 30 on Tuesday. A limited number of general admission tickets will be on sale during the boys junior varsity game against Yough on a first-come, first-served basis for season ticket holders in the athletic office.
Reserved ticket holders will be offered one general admission ticket per reserved ticket. The reserved ticket must be shown to the seller at the time of purchase. Cost is $3 per ticket.
Suns activate draft pick
PHOENIX (AP) – The Phoenix Suns activated forward Jackson Vroman from the injured list on Saturday and waived guard Yuta Tabuse, the first Japanese-born player to appear in an NBA game.
Vroman, the Suns’ only draft pick last June, averaged 1.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in five games before straining his left groin. He missed six games after being put on the injured list Dec. 7.
The 5-foot-9 Tabuse appeared in four games, averaging 1.8 points, 1.0 rebounds and 0.8 assists.
Tennis
Henin-Hardenne returns
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – Former No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne returned to action for the first time since September, losing an exhibition match to Nathalie Dechy 6-2, 7-5 on Saturday.
Henin-Hardenne’s appearance at the Women’s Tennis Trophy tournament in the southern city of Charleroi marked the start of her preparations for defending the Australian Open title.
Football
Pats’ Poole lost for season
FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – Cornerback Tyrone Poole is done for the season after the New England Patriots put him on injured reserve with a knee injury.
Poole started the first four games this year, but missed the Oct. 10 game against Miami. He returned the next week against Seattle, but was unable to play the second half.
Linfield wins Division III title
SALEM, Va. (AP) – Riley Jenkins turned a swing pass into a go-ahead touchdown with 5:51 to play Saturday as Linfield won its first NCAA Division III national championship, beating Mary Hardin-Baylor 28-21.
The 10-yard score came one play after Zach Fleming disrupted Crusaders punter Hunter Hamrick by getting quickly into the backfield, causing Hamrick to fumble the ball and fall on it on his 10.
One play later, Brett Elliott hit Jenkins out of the backfield. He made a one-handed grab, eluded two defenders down the sideline and dove into the end zone, capping a perfect season for the Wildcats (13-0).
Carroll captures NAIA crown
SAVANNAH, Tenn. (AP) – Carroll’s best pass all season was incomplete.
Holder Zach Bumgarner spiked the ball after a bad field goal snap on first down, and Marcus Miller kicked a 32-yard field goal on the next play with 10 seconds left to give Carroll a 15-13 victory over St. Francis (Indiana) and its third straight NAIA championship on Saturday.
“Everything happened so fast, I just threw it down,” Bumgarner said.
Chris Bramell gave St. Francis (13-1) a 13-12 lead on a 1-yard touchdown plunge with 1:13 left to complete a 17-play, 89-yard drive, but it was enough time for Tyler Emmert to drive Carroll (12-2) down the field without a timeout.
“It hit me as I sent the play in,” St. Francis coach Kevin Donley said. “We should have just taken a knee there and taken another 30 or 40 seconds off.”
Carroll joined Texas A&I (1974-76) as the only NAIA teams to win three consecutive titles.
He finished with four carries for 11 yards and four receptions for 38 yards.
Bengals’ Braham out for season
CINCINNATI (AP) – Cincinnati Bengals center Rich Braham was placed on injured reserve Saturday, and will miss the rest of the season because of a knee injury.
Braham, who missed three games earlier this season due to a previous knee injury, started 10 games and was hurt last week at New England.
No details about the injury were immediately available.
He is the 15th Bengals player lost for the season since the start of training camp.
The Bengals signed rookie halfback Quincy Wilson from the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad to a three-year contract. The 5-foot-9, 225-pound Wilson was a seventh-round pick in the 2004 draft by the Falcons.
Biathlon
Russia’s Zaitseva wins pursuit
OSTERSUND, Sweden (AP) – Russia’s Olga Zaitseva won a 10-kilometer World Cup biathlon pursuit Saturday, beating France’s Sandrine Bailly by 17.5 seconds.
Competing under the lights in northern Sweden, Zaitseva finished in 33 minutes, 48.67 seconds. She and Bailly missed two targets each. This was Zaitseva’s second World Cup victory of the season, following a sprint title at Holmenkollen in Norway this month.
Olga Pyleva, another Russian, was third, 25.1 seconds back with one miss, to move atop the World Cup overall standings with 244 points. Zaitseva is second (237) and Bailly third (228).
The previous leader, Germany’s Uschi Disl, dropped to fourth (227) after a dismal shooting performance. She had eight misses, placing 26th and just finishing in the points.
Baily made the podium for the third straight race. She won the two previous events in Ostersund, including the 7.5K sprint Thursday that was the first part of the pursuit.
Liv Grete Poiree of Norway, the defending overall champion, was sixth.