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WINTERBERG, Germany -- Germanys Sandra Kiriasis drove to a World Cup bobsled win on her home track on Sunday, edging Elana Meyers of the United States by the slimmest of margins. wholesale nfl jerseys . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat. Anja Schneiderheinze and Stephanie Schneider were third for Germany, 0.07 seconds back. Meyers has now finished no worse than second in all five races this season, though this one wasnt easy. She and Jones had a bit of trouble at the start of the first run, then tied for the fastest start in the field to begin their second trip down the track. "We like to keep everybody on the edge of their seats," Meyers said after extending her World Cup standings lead to 68 points over reigning Olympic champions Kaillie Humphries of Calgary and Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I., who finished fifth. "We had a little slip-up in the beginning of the first run. I didnt run far enough and she followed me, so it caused us to drop some time, but we came back in the second one." Jenny Ciochetti of Edmonton and Chelsea Valois of Zenon Park, Sask., finished in 14th place, 1:36 behind the winning duo. Kiriasis victory came one day after she celebrated her 39th birthday. It was the first medal of the season for the German whos widely considered the best womens driver ever, and came in whats widely expected to be her final year in a sled. Kiriasis was emotional crossing the finish line, raising one of her index fingers skyward, then took a long swig of a celebratory beer while standing atop the medal stand. For the U.S., Jamie Greubel and Aja Evans led after the first run but finished fourth. Jazmine Fenlator and Lauryn Williams were ninth, despite solid start times of 5.62 and 5.59 seconds. Evans is expected to be a lock for one of the three push-athlete jobs on the U.S. womens team that will compete in the Sochi Olympics next month, while Jones and Williams -- both of whom have competed in multiple Olympics as track stars -- are in a group competing for the other two spots. Later Sunday, Germany swept a four-man race, dominating once again on home ice. Maximilian Arndt won his second gold medal in as many days, prevailing in 1:50.09 to extend his lead in the World Cup four-man standings. Francesco Friedrich drove to silver in 1:50.32 and Thomas Florschuetz took the bronze in 1:50.49. Olympic champion Steven Holcomb and his team of Steve Langton, Curtis Tomasevicz and Chris Fogt finished seventh for the U.S., wrapping up a tough, crash-filled week in Winterberg for the Americans. Also for the U.S., the team of Cory Butner, Adam Clark, Andreas Drbal and Chris Langton placed 13th, while pilot Nick Cunningham and push athletes Dallas Robinson, Johnny Quinn and Abe Morlu were 16th. The World Cup bobsled tour continues next weekend at St. Moritz, the next-to-last weekend of competition before the Americans will decide which athletes will be on the team for next months Sochi Olympics. cheap nfl jerseys . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Tuukka Rask, Boston (4) - Explosive, perfect positioning and great rebound control for all five games that led to this series being clinched. cheap jerseys from china. -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style.HOUSTON -- The Phoenix Suns did something against the Houston Rockets they had not done in their previous two games. Every time the Rockets made a run at the young Suns on Wednesday night, Phoenix responded. Eric Bledsoe had 20 points and seven assists to lead Phoenix to a 97-88 win over Houston on Wednesday night that snapped the Suns two-game losing streak. PJ Tucker added 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting with six rebounds. Channing Frye had 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting and grabbed six rebounds, and Goran Dragic chipped in 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting for the Suns, who shot 45.6 per cent from the field, including 45.8 per cent from behind the arc. "Throughout the year, we have had games where we have the lead in the fourth quarter," Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek said. "We have blown some, and as a young team, that happens. You want to see the progress where that doesnt happen. They cut it down, and we could have gotten panicked where we forced shots, but we didnt." Dwight Howard had 15 points and 18 rebounds, Aaron Brooks added 17 points and six assists, and Omri Casspi had 14 points and seven rebounds for the Rockets, who lost their second straight game. James Harden, who was guarded by Tucker, finished with 14 points, hitting 3 of 17 from the field and going 0 for 10 from behind the arc. Patrick Beverley had 12 points and eight rebounds. Houston shot 35 per cent from the floor and turned the ball over 23 times. Houston coach Kevin McHale said the Rockets did not play very well. "In the first quarter, Phoenix came up and got real aggressive with us and were denying us around the court," McHale said. "We didnt handle that very well, and then you compound that with shots not going. We had no flow tonight. . I just thought the 13 assists, 23 turnovers, some really errant passing. We gave up 25 points off our turnovers, so we just fed them." The Rockets opened the fourth quarter with a 13-2 run to cut the Suns lead to 75-74 on Brooks 3-pointer with 7 minutes remaining. As they did throughout the game, the Suns responded, going on a 13-0 run over the next four minutes to expand the lead to 14 on Marcus Morris 3-pointer with 3 minutes remaining. Houston tried to answer, closing within 88-82 on an 8-0 run capped by Brooks 3-pointer with 1:49 remaining. "Playing on the road against the No. 1 offensive team in the league, you knoow they are going to make a run," Tucker said. jerseys from china. . "Its just one of those things where you keep playing hard and keep taking those shots. We started missing some shots, but we wanted to stick with it and pushing the ball back up." Again, the Suns would have an answer as Morris connected on a 3-pointer from the corner followed by two free throws from Dragic to push the lead to 11 with 1:15 left. "We know that Houston likes to push the ball," Dragic said. "In every NBA game, we know that every team is going to have a run. If youre solid on defence and play together on offence, I think we find the right open guy at the right time, and he makes shot. Thats huge play." Houston tried once more to slice into the lead, getting it down to seven points on Beverleys 3-pointer with 57 seconds left. Houston got no closer the rest of the way. Howard said the Rockets bad offensive night had nothing to do with them missing shots, the Suns "just played harder than us." "We cant give away games like this," Howard said. "It will come back to bite us in games later this season. Weve got to learn how, no matter how many guys we have out there, short-handed and all, weve got to play the same way, play hard and play aggressive." After the Rockets got to 63-61 on Garcias 3-pointer with 2:20 left in the third, the Suns finished the quarter on a 10-0 run, capped by two free throws by Markieff Morris to take a 12-point lead into the fourth. Houston opened the second half with an 11-4 run to get within 55-51 on Beverleys 3-pointer with 6:50 remaining in the third quarter. Phoenix used a 14-3 run over a three-minute span of the second quarter to take a 47-34 lead on Tuckers 3 with 3:09 remaining in the quarter. The Suns shot 50 per cent in the first half and took a 51-40 lead into the break. Houston shot 29.8 per cent in the first half. "We just didnt have enough energy," Harden said. "We didnt make shots on the offensive end or move the basketball, and they did." NOTES: Jeremy Lin sat out with a right knee sprain. ... Houston said centre Omer Asik will miss a week with a right thigh contusion. Asik will be re-evaluated at the end of the week. . Houston forward Chandler Parsons missed his second straight game with back spasms. . Phoenix centre Alex Len missed his eighth straight game with a sore left ankle. cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
