Ho Hum, Another One for UConn

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Connecticut stands atop the women's college basketball world -- again.

The Huskies made women's college basketball history with their fourth straight national championship, an 82-51 rout of Syracuse. It's the Huskies' 75th straight win, and 24th straight NCAA tournament game victory. UConn scored the first nine points of the game, built a 50-23 halftime lead and coasted to another title.

Connecticut has beaten Syracuse 24 straight times in a streak dating to 1996. Breanna Stewart led UConn with 24 points and 10 rebounds. She was named tournament most outstanding player for the fourth straight year, also an unprecedented feat. Morgan Tuck added 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

The UConn seniors finished their careers with an amazing 151-5 record that includes four national titles.

The victory gave UConn coach Geno Auriemma (aw-ree-EH'-muh) his 11th championship, moving him past UCLA men's coach John Wooden for the most in the history of college basketball. Phil Jackson coached 11 NBA championship teams with the Lakers and Bulls.

Auriemma says those 11 titles "mean to me how many great players I've had the opportunity to coach. As long as I have those players in my memory, I'm good."

NCAA MEN'S TOURNAMENT

National championship party goes on

VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) — Villanova canceled classes yesterday after the men's basketball team captured the national championship.

And the party will go on with a victory parade in Philadelphia. Students and fans welcomed home the national champions at the campus football stadium.

Friday's parade in Philadelphia will cover five blocks of Market Street and end outside City Hall. The Phillies were the last championship team to have a parade, in 2008.

The television rating for Monday's night's thriller was a record low.

The game averaged a 10.6 rating across TBS, TNT and truTV in the first title game to air on cable. The 17.8 million viewers are down 37 percent from the 28.3 million for last season's Duke-Wisconsin matchup on CBS.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL-NBA DRAFT

Kentucky, Purdue, Marquette losing talent to NBA draft

UNDATED (AP) — Kentucky has announced that freshman Skal Labissiere (lah-bih-SEHR') will enter the NBA draft. He becomes the second Wildcat in the past four days to announce he will turn pro.

The school says the 6-foot-11, 225-pound Haitian will hire an agent, which keeps him from reconsidering and staying in school.

Labissiere is projected as a first-round draft selection despite struggling for much of his lone season with the Wildcats. Labissiere lost his starting spot by midseason but improved enough to reclaim it down the stretch and finish with averages of 6.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks.

Elsewhere:

— Purdue sophomore Vince Edwards says he plans on entering the NBA draft. He has not hired an agent, which means he could change his mind. The 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward led Purdue with 100 assists and 46 3-pointers made last season. He also finished second in scoring, at 11.3 points, and third in rebounding, at 5.4.

— Marquette freshman Henry Ellenson has decided to enter the NBA draft and hire an agent, forgoing his remaining college eligibility. The 6-foot-11 forward won Big East freshman of the year honors for scoring a team-high 17 points a game for the Golden Eagles.

NBA-SCHEDULE

Warriors hit a roadblock...Cavs maintain lead over Raptors...Back-to-back losses for Hornets

UNDATED (AP)— The Golden State Warriors hit an unexpected obstacle on their quest for a record 73 wins. They blew a 17-point lead and lost 124-117 in overtime to the last-place Minnesota Timberwolves last night. That means the 69-9 Warriors must sweep their final four games to beat the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls regular-season record of 72-10.

Shabazz Muhammad scored a career-high 35 points and Andrew Wiggins had 32 as Minnesota prevented Golden State from becoming the second team to win 70 games in a season.

Reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry had a rare off night -- he scored 21 but it came on 7 of 25 shooting. IN the first half he missed all eight of his shots and scored just two points.

In the rest of the NBA:

— J.R. Smith scored 21 points and went 7 of 11 from 3-point range to lead the hot-shooting Cleveland Cavaliers to a 109-80 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.Kevin Love added 17 points and shot 3 of 6 from behind the arc for the Cavaliers, who maintained a 3 ½-game lead over Toronto for the best record in the Eastern Conference

— DeMar DeRozan scored 26, Kyle Lowry had 12 of his 21 in the fourth quarter and the Toronto Raptors beat Charlotte 96-90. That's the first time the Hornets have suffered back-to-back losses in more than two months. All-Star guards DeRozan and Lowry returned to the starting lineup after sitting out Saturday's loss at San Antonio.

— Kawhi (kuh-WY') Leonard made the go-ahead jumper with 4.9 seconds left and scored 18 points as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz 88-86. That's the 1,000th regular-season victory for veteran Spurs center Tim Duncan.

— Carl Landry scored 22 points to lead Philadelphia to a 107-93 victory over New Orleans. The Sixers are 10-68, one victory clear of their 1972-73 team that set an NBA futility mark of 9-73.

— The Memphis Grizzlies ended their six-game losing streak with a 108-92 win over Chicago. Zach Randolph had 27 points and 10 rebounds.

— Jeff Teague scored 20 points, Kent Bazemore added 17 and the Atlanta Hawks rallied from 13 down in the third quarter to beat the Phoenix Suns 103-90.

— Oklahoma City routed Denver 124-102. Kevin Durant led five players in double figures with 26. But the big story was Russell Westbrook. He had 13 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists to become the first player with 17 triple-doubles in a season in 27 years.

— Goran Dragic (GOHR'-uhn DRAH'-gich) had 22 points and eight assists, Dwyane (DWAYN) Wade added 16 points and the Heat beat the Detroit Pistons 107-89, staying in the fifth spot in the airtight East race.

— C.J. McCollum made five 3-pointers and scored 30 points to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 115-107 victory over Sacramento.

— Chris Paul scored 25 points and the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Lakers 103-81. The Clippers beat their Staples Center co-tenants for the 10th straight time in Kobe Bryant's last game as a member of the visiting in his home arena.

NHL-SCHEDULE

Isles clinch despite 2 goals from Ovie...7 straight for Penguins

UNDATED (AP)— Thomas Hickey scored in overtime as the New York Islanders rallied from two goals down in the third period to beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 to clinch a playoff berth. Alex Ovechkin scored his league-leading 46th and 47th goals of the season for the Caps.

Caps goalie Braden Holtby allowed four goals on 27 shots and lost in his first attempt to tie Martin Brodeur's (mahr-THAN broh-DOORZ') single-season wins record.

In other hockey action:

— Sidney Crosby and Carl Hagelin each scored twice and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 5-3 for their seventh straight victory.

__ The Chicago Blackhawks routed Arizona 6-2. Jonathan Toews (TAYVZ) scored his 250th career goal. Chicago won for the fifth time in six games and pulled within four points of idle Dallas and St. Louis for the Central Division lead with two games left.

— Roberto Luongo made 32 saves and Aleksander Barkov got his 28th goal to help the Florida Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 for their fourth straight win.

— Derek Stepan (STEH'-pahn) scored twice and set up Chris Kreider's winner while rallying the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the playoff-bound Tampa Bay Lightning

— Jack Eichel got his 24th goal and Ryan O'Reilly got his 21st to help the Buffalo Sabres beat the New Jersey Devils 3-1.

— Carolina nipped Boston 2-1 in a shootout. Noah Hanifin scored the only goal of a shootout in the fifth round. Cam Ward stopped 35 shots.

— Craig Smith scored at 4:17 of the third period, and the Nashville Predators eliminated Colorado from playoff contention by edging the Avalanche 4-3.

— James Reimer made 29 saves for his third shutout in eight games and the San Jose Sharks beat the playoff-bound Minnesota Wild 3-0. The Wild backed in when the Avs lost.

— The L.A. Kings regained first place in the Pacific Division by one point over Anaheim by edging Calgary 5-4 in overtime. Jeff Carter's goal 40 seconds into OT won it.

—Blake Wheeler scored with 1:53 left in overtime, and the Winnipeg Jets rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, who have a game in hand on the first-place Kings.

NHL-RANGERS-MCDONAGH

Rangers captain out at least three games.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh (mihk-DUH'-nuh) is going to miss the final three games of the regular season and his status for the playoffs is uncertain because of an upper body injury suffered Monday night.

McDonagh is the team's top defenseman and a key component in all the special teams. His plus-26 rating is the best on the team.

MLB-SCHEDULE

Price pays off...Syndergaard beats Royals again...Cueto wins first for Giants

UNDATED (AP) — The Red Sox got immediate returns on the seven-year, $217 million dollar contact they gave to David Price in the off-season.

He struck out 10 and picked up the win in Boston's weather-delayed 6-2 win over Cleveland in their season opener.

Price gave up two runs and five hits in six innings. Boston is hoping Price can push them back into contention in the AL East after the club finished last in the division the past two seasons.

David Ortiz began his farewell season with his 504th career homer in the ninth. Big Papi tied Hall of Famer Eddie Murray for 26th place on the career list.

Boston's Mookie Betts homered in the third off Corey Kluber, tagged with a loss in the opener for the second straight year.

In other major league action:

— Noah Syndergaard threw six dominant innings, Neil Walker hit his first homer with the Mets and New York blanked Kansas City 2-0 after the Royals were given their 2015 World Series rings. Syndergaard was the only pitcher to beat the Royals in the World Series last year, winning Game 3 and he did it again in the second game of the 2016 baseball season.

— Johnny Cueto (KWAY'-toh) pitched seven solid innings in his San Francisco debut as the Giants beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1. Cueto was the centerpiece of San Francisco's offseason rotation overhaul when he signed a six-year, $130 million deal after winning a championship with Kansas City.

— Houston got the best of a controversial call that helped the Astros to a 5-3 win over the Yankees. The go-ahead run scored when Carlos Correa reached on an eighth-inning dribbler that Yankees pitcher Dellin Betances (beh-TAN'-sihs) threw over first base. The Yankees argued that Correa was in fair territory when he ran to first that affected the throw. The umpires upheld the initial call and Yankees manager Joe Girardi played the game under protest.

— Baseball's new rule on breaking up double plays gave Logan Forsythe and the Tampa Bay Rays a disputed 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. An errant throw on a DP play appeared to let the tying run score. But it was overruled on replay, and ruled a game-ending double play.

— Jordy Mercer singled home Gregory Polanco from second base with one out in the 11th inning to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-5 win over St. Louis.

— Seattle routed Texas 10-2. Nelson Cruz hit one of four Seattle homers to give Scott Servais his first win as Mariners manager.

__ Ian Kinsler had four RBIs, including a run-scoring single in the 11th inning in the Detroit Tigers' 8-7 win over Miami.

— The L.A. Dodgers shut out San Diego for the second straight night, 3-0. Scott Kazmir combined with three relievers on a two-hitter.

— The Chicago Cubs got home runs from Anthony Rizzo, Dexter Fowler and Matt Szczur (SEE'-zur) in a 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

— The Chicago White Sox got a ninth inning home run from Jimmy Rollins and beat Oakland 5-4.

— Arizona routed Colorado 11-6. Paul Goldschmidt drove in four runs with a solo homer and a bases-loaded triple.

MLB-YANKEES

Pitcher sidelined 4 months

NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees relief pitcher Bryan Mitchell will miss at least the first four months of the season following surgery to repair a broken bone in his left big toe. The 24-year-old right-hander suffered the injury while covering first base last week during an exhibition game against Atlanta.

Mitchell had a 6.37 ERA in two starts and 18 relief appearances last year, and the Yankees had planned for him to fill the long relief and spot starter role.

GOLF-MASTERS-NICKLAUS

Jack says don't count Tiger out yet

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Jack Nicklaus says he thinks Tiger Woods will win again. After seeing him a few weeks ago, Nicklaus is surprised Woods isn't playing the Masters this week.

Woods is missing the Masters for the second time in three years as he recovers from two surgeries on his back last year. He has not played since a tie for 10th in the Wyndham Championship in August, and he has not won since Firestone in August 2013.

"I don't think he's done," Nicklaus said before going to the Champions Dinner. "I think Tiger is going to win more tournaments."

Nicklaus leads Woods 18-14 in the race for most majors.