Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

October 15, 2012

Sports Digest

BASKETBALL

Indiana stuns Minnesota in opener of WNBA finals

Erlana Larkins had 16 points and 15 rebounds, and the Indiana Fever stunned defending champion Minnesota with a 76-70 victory over the Lynx in Game 1 of the WNBA finals at Minneapolis on Sunday night.

Tamika Catchings added 20 points for the Fever, who played without leading scorer Katie Douglas because of a sprained left ankle.

Seimone Augustus scored 23 points and Rebekkah Brunson added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Lynx, who are looking to become the WNBA's first repeat champion in 10 years.

Game 2 in the best-of-five series is Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

Indiana scored 15 points off of 17 Minnesota turnovers and outscored the Lynx 38-24 in the paint to become just the second visiting team this season to win at Target Center.

Briann January added 11 points and six assists and Erin Phillips scored 13 for Indiana.

HARNESS RACING

MAINE SIRE STAKES: Pembroke Princess, Current Crisis, Royal Knockout and Pembroke Dewey were winners in the 3-year-old divisions at Scarborough Downs.

Pembroke Princess got her 11th win of the season in the filly trot division, and Pembroke Dewey secured his 13th win in 14 starts this season in the colt pace division. Both horses were driven by Heath Campbell.

Current Crisis, driven by Mark Athearn, was the winner in the colt trot division and Royal Knockout, driven by Mike Graffam, topped the filly pace division.

GOLF

PGA: Sweden's Jonas Blixt won the Frys.com Open for his first PGA Tour title, draining a 4-foot par putt on the final hole for a one-stroke victory at CordeValle in San Martin, Calif.

He closed with a 3-under 68 for a 16-under 268 total.

Tim Petrovic (64) and Jason Kokrak (68) tied for second.

LPGA: Inbee Park rallied for her second victory of the year, closing with a 4-under 67 to beat fellow South Korean player Na Yeon Choi by two strokes in the LPGA Malaysia at Kuala Lumpur.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Fred Funk made a two-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to edge Duffy Waldorf by one stroke for the Greater Hickory Classic title in Conover, N.C.

Funk, 56, shot a 3-under 69 in the final round at Rock Barn Golf and Spa's Jones Course for a three-day total of 15-under 201. It was the second Champions Tour victory this season for Funk.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Shane Lowry of Ireland won the Portugal Masters after a final-round 5-under 66, edging England's Ross Fisher by one stroke with a 270 total in Vilamoura, Portugal.

ROAD RACING

MDI MARATHON: Louie Luchini, 31, of Ellsworth broke his own course record at the Mt. Desert Island Marathon.

Luchini finished in 2 hours, 30 minutes and 41 seconds, taking more than a minute off the record of 2:31:54 he set two years ago. He was more than four minutes faster than runner-up P.J. Gorneault of Caribou.

Heather Carlson, 27, of Brighton, Mass., won the women's division in her marathon debut, finishing in 3:08:29.

TENNIS

GENERALI LADIES: Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka won her sixth title of the season, beating Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-4 at Linz, Austria.

Azarenka has won 13 straight matches without dropping a set since losing the U.S. Open final last month.

JAPAN OPEN: Heather Watson became the first British woman in 24 years to win a WTA title, beating Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan, 7-5, 5-7. 7-6 (4) in the final at Osaka.

SHANGHAI MASTERS: In another entertaining matchup between the two U.S. Open finalists, Novak Djokovic saved five match points in the second set before outlasting two-time defending champion Andy Murray 5-7, 7-6 (11), 6-3.

SOCCER

MARCELO INJURED: Real Madrid left back Marcelo broke his right foot in training with Brazil and will be sidelined until at least the end of the year. Marcelo, who may need surgery, says he wants to fully recover in time for the 2013 Confederations Cup.

-- From staff and news services

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