be able to let her ankle fully heal.I couldnt practice to full capacity, and I could

NEW YORK -- Northwestern came into the Legends Classic off a last-second loss to Butler.It didnt seem to bother the Wildcats as they beat No. 22 Texas 77-58 on Monday night.Im really proud of my guys tonight. We had a very tough loss Wednesday in Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler, Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. Teams can go two separate ways after a loss like that. You can go on a little bit of a tailspin or you can rally together and come out fighting. There was never a doubt in my mind that our guys were going to keep fighting. We came in confident, yet very respectful of Texas. We knew it was going to take a great effort to beat a team like that. I thought a lot of guys played well.Bryant McIntosh had 20 points and five assists in the convincing win that propelled the Wildcats (3-1) into a championship showdown against Notre Dame, which beat Colorado 89-81, on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.McIntosh turned the ball over that led to Butlers buzzer-beater.I thought right after the Butler game, I knew we wouldnt go into a tailspin just because we didnt feel sorry for ourselves, McIntosh said. We were upset that we lost a game that we thought we could win. Thats a difference with this team than on the other teams Ive been on since being here. If we lost a close game, we felt sorry for ourselves where this team were hungry. We think were good and I thought tonight we played exceptionally well.Northwestern opened the game with an 11-0 run and closed the first half on a 9-0 spurt to take a 34-26 lead.The Wildcats opened the second half on a 10-1 run to go up by 17 points and the Longhorns (3-1) were never closer than 14 points the rest of the way.Scottie Lindsey had 16 points and Dererk Pardon had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Northwestern which took advantage of an out-of-synch Texas offense for the easy win.We came in to win, Collins said. We have the utmost respect for Texas, just like we did at Butler the other night. I just think theres a mindset with these guys. I think we believe were good. I believe we can play with these teams, not only play with them but beat them.Tavin Mack scored 18 points for the Longhorns, who finished with 14 turnovers and just seven assists. Texas didnt help itself at the free throw line going 13 for 27.I thought Northwestern did a great job of starting the game with aggressiveness and got off to that big lead, Texas coach Shaka Smart said. Our guys responded really well and battled back and took the lead but obviously from there, Northwestern was just a much better team tonight.Northwestern, which shot 48.2 percent (27 for 56), led by as many as 20 points as nine of the 10 players who saw time scored.Texas, which came into the game averaging 82 points per game, shot 37.3 percent (19 for 51) and were outrebounded 40-31.I was a little bit concerned this morning because sometimes you can feel when guys get in the bright lights, you can tell theyre playing a little bit away from what really goes into it, Smart said. Its natural. I think we were a step off with a lot of things we know how to do.BIG PICTURE:Texas: The Longhorns allowed opponents to shoot 21.8 percent from 3-point range in their first three games. Northwestern was 10 of 24 (41.7 percent) from beyond the arc. ... Six Texas players were averaging double figures entering the game and only Mack reached that against the Wildcats.Northwestern: Vic Law came into the game shooting 76.8 percent (11 of 14) from 3-point range including eight in a row at one stretch. He went 1 for 2 Monday. ... Law was the Wildcats leading scorer at 20.3 points per game. He had just nine against Texas.BIRTHDAY WISH:McIntosh celebrated his birthday Sunday by heading to the famed Rucker Park with his godfather to shoot baskets.RARE MEETING:Northwestern leads the all-time series 2-1. The last time the teams met was in 1974, a 63-59 Texas victory. The first meeting was a 73-71 Northwestern victory in 1965.UP NEXT:Texas: will play Colorado for third place in the Legends Classic.Northwestern: will play Notre Dame in the championship game of the Legends Classic.Cheap Air Jordan 12 .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. Air Jordan 4 Wholesale . 8 Iowa State on Saturday, sending the Cyclones to their third consecutive loss. The Longhorns (14-4, 3-2) got their biggest win of the season with their third in the row in the Big 12. http://www.wholesalejordan12.com/ . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Cheap Jordan 12 Gym Red .S. -- Nikolaj Ehlers registered a hat trick for the third straight game and Jonathan Drouin had a goal and five assists as the Halifax Mooseheads hammered the host Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 10-1 on Tuesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Cheap Jordan 12 Flu Game . The players spoke Jan. 13 during a Major League Baseball Players Association conference call after Rodriguez sued the union and Major League Baseball to overturn an arbitrators decision suspending him for the 2014 season and post-season.ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Chicago point guard Courtney Vandersloot stood in the hallway outside the Skys locker room, her wet hair still up in a towel. She didnt look the part of a fearsome nemesis. But to Atlanta, thats exactly what she was.Vandersloot had the best playoff game of her six-year career in Sundays 108-98 victory at Allstate Arena: 21 points, 13 assists and four steals.We were so ready to play, she said. Super ready.And from an 8-0 run to start the game, right through to the end, Vandersloot and the Sky took all those pregame predictions of an Atlanta victory, wadded them up, and tossed them into the trash.The fourth-seeded Sky were on fire most of the afternoon, shooting 55 percent from the field, and the No. 6 seed Dream just couldnt extinguish it.The second-round victory advances Chicago to a best-of-five WNBA semifinal series with No. 2 Los Angeles. And no, your eyes do not deceive you: The Sky, even without leading scorer Elena Delle Donne, really did hit 108 points.That ties the WNBA postseason record for a regulation game. Only one playoff game in WNBA history has seen teams score more points: Game 1 of the 2009 WNBA finals, when Phoenix beat Indiana 120-116 in overtime.Sundays game exemplifies one of the reasons we love to watch sports. No matter how much you think you know what will happen, you can still sometimes be totally wrong. Most folks probably thought that Chicago, minus Delle Donnes 21.5 scoring average, was going to last for just one playoff game.Sure, the Sky had won three of five games to end the regular season after Delle Donne suffered a thumb injury on Sept. 7. But considering the Dream were coming off a game in which they shot 53.1 percent and beat Seattle 94-85 -- even without their second-leading scorer, Tiffany Hayes -- Sundays contest definitely seemed to favor Atlanta.Especially with Hayes back. She sat out a one-game suspension after getting her seventh technical foul to end the regular season. And if we had told you beforehand that Hayes would score 30 points Sunday, just two off her career high, Angel McCoughtry would have 27, and the Dreams other three starters also would be in double figures, what would you have said? Poor, poor Sky, right?Hardly. The Sky obviously would have preferred not to give up 98 points; theyre always concerned about their defense. Vandersloot said its the thing they talk about constantly. But when youre as good offensively as Chicago was Sunday, that takes away a lot of worry.Even with Delle Donne in cheerleader mode on the bench, the Sky were bursting with confidence offensively. They got points from sources you would expect, such as veteran guard Cappie Pondexters 16, and sixth-woman specialist Allie Quigleys eight.But what about Jessica Breland, who like Vandersloot had the best playoff game of her career? Breland is a natural power forward who will do whatever Chicago coach Pokey Chatman asks. Play small forward in a big lineup? OK. Play center in a small lineup. OK. Do a Delle Donne impersonation when the Skys season was on the line? Sure, why not?Both Chatman and Atlanta coach Michael Cooper referred to Brelaand as an X factor, and she lived up to that and more, finishing with 20 points on 10-of-14 shooting, 16 rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots.ddddddddddddWhatever the categorical opposite of trash talker is, thats Breland. She barely says a word, just does her job.Shes like a silent killer, you know? Vandersloot said. Shes filling Elenas shoes, really, and she looked comfortable out there today.Then there was forward Tamera Young, who took on most of the responsibility for slowing down McCoughtry in the second half. McCoughtry had 37 points on 14-of-21 shooting Wednesday against Seattle. Sunday, she had 21 points on 7-of- 11 shooting in the first half. But led by Young, the Sky held McCoughtry to just six more points on 2-of-10 shooting in the second half.Its tough to guard their best player but still hit your own shots, Vandersloot said of Young, who had 16 points. To have a player like that on your team is everything. We see how hard shes working defensively, and it just makes everybody come together.We also have to mention Chicago rookie center Imani Boyette. She brought what the Sky expected in rebounding (11) and defense (six blocked shots), but also added eight points.Pulling it all together was Vandersloot. Cooper referred to her as my nemesis going back to college. When Cooper was coach of the womens hoops team at Southern California, he faced Gonzaga twice when Vandersloot was a star for the Bulldogs. She had 11 points and nine assists in 2009, when Gongaza beat USC, and 19 and five in 2010, when the USC beat Gonzaga.In the 2014 WNBA playoffs, Chicago upset East No. 1 seed Atlanta 2-1. Cooper was in his first season back in the WNBA then. And even though Delle Donne did much of the scoring damage in that series, Vandersloot had 20 assists. And Cooper, one of the NBAs premier defenders in his playing days, knows exactly how much impact a point guard has that doesnt show up statistically.Shes the type of player you need; shes a true leader, Cooper said of Vandersloot. She knows the pace of the game that they want to play, and she really dictates that tempo. She gets the ball where its needed.Vandersloot suffered an ankle sprain early this season in practice, then hurt it again in a game. She missed three games with the injury, but it lingered as a factor in limiting her effectiveness in several other games. She had to play through the pain, knowing when she got to the Olympic break, shed finally be able to let her ankle fully heal.I couldnt practice to full capacity, and I couldnt get back into the flow in games, Vandersloot said. I knew I just needed some time to get my body right.Of course, then the Sky lost Delle Donne shortly after the Olympic break. That could have been a devastating blow to Chicago. Frankly, most people expected it would be. But the Sky has adjusted, and now they head to Los Angeles knowing that while they may be underdogs, they believe they can compete.And after watching them Sunday, you have to agree with them. ' ' '