Auto Racing
Stewart wins his 15th pole but first since 2012
FORT WORTH, Texas – Tony Stewart knocked Brad Keselowski from the pole as qualifying ended Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Stewart waited right until the end of the final round to attempt his lap and circled the speedway at 195.454 mph to grab the top starting spot for Sunday’s race.
It’s Stewart’s 15th career pole and first since Atlanta in 2012.
Kevin Harvick qualified third, as two Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets were in the top three. Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards qualified fourth and fifth for Roush Fenway Racing.
Rosberg and Hamilton drive 1-2 for Mercedes
SAKHIR, Bahrain – Mercedes locked up the front row for the Bahrain Grand Prix, as Nico Rosberg claimed pole position Saturday, qualifying ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Rosberg’s time of 1 minute, 33.185 seconds at the Bahrain International Circuit was a quarter of a second faster than Hamilton.
It was Mercedes’ third consecutive pole to start the season but the first for Rosberg, who equaled his father Keke with five career poles.
College Basketball
Siena wins its first Division I championship in 38 years
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – Tournament MVP Brett Bisping had 20 points and nine rebounds, and Siena cruised past Fresno State 81-68 in the decisive Game 3 of the College Basketball Invitational championship series Saturday.
Siena (20-18) capped its longest season, which began Nov. 8, with its first national postseason title since jumping to Division I in 1976.
Picked 10th of 11 in the preseason Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference coaches’ poll, Siena got a rowdy crowd of 2,788 fired up early and never trailed.
Fresno State hit just three of its first 17 shots and went more than nine minutes without a field goal in the first half.
Rutgers beats UTEP in Texas to win the women’s NIT
EL PASO, Texas – Tyler Scaife went coast-to-coast and scores with 2 seconds left to give Rutgers the Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship with a 56-54 win over Texas-El Paso on Saturday.
Rutgers (28-9), which led 30-16 at the half, withstood a furious second-half rally by UTEP (29-8), which tied it at 54 with 7 seconds to play on a putback by Chrishauna Parker. Scaife took the inbounds pass and raced downcourt to score the winning points to quiet UTEP’s home sellout crowd of 12,222.
McGraw is Coach of the Year; Stewart is Player of the Year
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw, who guided the Irish to an undefeated season, was selected as The Associated Press’ women’s college basketball coach of the year for the second consecutive year.
The Fighting Irish entered the NCAA Tournament at 32-0 and as a No. 1 seed. McGraw has Notre Dame back in the Final Four for a fourth consecutive season.
The 58-year-old McGraw was presented the award Saturday after receiving 17 votes from the same 36-member national media panel that selects the weekly AP Top 25. The voting was done before the NCAA Tournament.
McGraw became the second coach to win the award in consecutive seasons, joining Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma. West Virginia’s Mike Carey was second with eight votes. Auriemma was third.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Breanna Stewart, who helped Connecticut go undefeated this season, was selected the AP Player of the Year, only the third sophomore to win the award.
The 6-4 star received 20 votes Saturday.
Chiney Ogwumike of Stanford was runner-up for the second consecutive season, receiving eight votes. Odyssey Sims of Baylor was third with six votes, and Kayla McBride of Notre Dame received two.
Stewart averaged 19.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.8 blocks this season to help UConn reach the Final Four for a seventh consecutive year.
Associated Press
