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ByAntonioGonzalez TheAssociatedPress OAKLAND Stephen Curry had 26 points and eight rebounds, Harri- son Barnes added 24 points and the Golden State Warriors advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in 40 years with a 104-90 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednes- day night. After decades of wishing and waiting for this moment, the War- riors have finally arrived. They shook off a slow start and sweated out a shaky finish in Game 5 to close out the Rockets and set up a matchup with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers beginning June 4. All five Rockets starters scored at least 10 points, but MVP runner- up James Harden had a forgettable finale. Harden had a playoff-record 13 turnovers and scored 14 points on 2-of-11 shooting. Dwight Howard led Houston with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Yellow streams and confetti fell from the rafters when the fi- nal buzzer sounded. The Warriors shared hugs and handshakes, and the crowd chanted "M-V-P!" for Curry, who relished the moment on the court with his 2-year-old daugh- ter, Riley. "We deserve to celebrate tonight but we've still got unfinished busi- ness and it's a long time coming for the Bay Area," All-Star Klay Thomp- son said. Curry said he had no lingering effects from his frightening fall in Game 4 that left him with a bruised head and right side. The MVP wore a protective yellow sleeve on his right arm, which he shed in the third quarter after shooting 4 for 12 NBA PLAYOFFS WARRIORS MOVE ON AFTER BIG VICTORY Golden State eliminates Houston in Game 5 win to end franchise's 40-year NBA Finals drought HoustonRocketsguardCoreyBrewer(33)triestoshoot against Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson during the first half of Game 5of the Western Conference finals Wednesday in Oakland. PHOTOS BY BEN MARGOT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Golden State Warriors forward Harrison Barnes (40) shoots against Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard (12) during the second half of Game 5of the Western Conference finals Wednesday in Oakland. WARRIORS104,ROCKETS90 Up next: NBA Finals, Cleveland Cavaliers at Golden State Warriors, 6p.m. Thursday, June 4, TV on ABC. THESCORE Homeowners dragged soggy carpet to the curb and mopped up coffee-colored muck Wednesday a er a bar- rage of storms and floods in Texas and Oklahoma le at least 19people dead. STORMS, FLOODS Texanscleanupwhile death toll rises to 19 FULL STORY ON PAGE B3 The first report from a big public-private project to im- prove genetic testing reveals it is not as rock solid as many people believe, with flaws that result in some people wrongly advised to worry about risk. HEALTH STUDY Gene testing has flaws; results o en conflict FULL STORY ON PAGE B4 EMILY BERTOLINO — ENTERPRISE-RECORD FILE Chico High's Jacob Graber leads the 800meters in an April 29dual meet against Pleasant Valley. Graber could factor in a few races at the section finals. By Chico Enterprise-Record RED BLUFF The weather is heating up, and so are the performances of area athletes seeking to blaze a trail all the way to the state meet. To do that, it's simple — win. While it's simple, it's hardly that easy. Challengers across all divi- sions converge at the Northern Sec- tion Track and Field Championships on Friday at West Valley High in Cot- tonwood. Field events starts at 4 p.m. Track events begin at 6. Admission is $6 for adults and $5 for seniors, students with student ID and kids kindergarten to eighth grade. The four divisional winners and the next-best four marks qualified. The winner of each event qualifies for the state championships, which are at Buchanan High in Clovis. The high jump has a standard qualifying mark for anyone regardless of finish. Three boys qualified by reaching 6 feet, 5 inches last year, including the favorite this year in Hamilton High's Chris Jaeger, who also won the sec- tion title as a sophomore. No team scores are kept at the sec- tion finals. Here's a look at some events in- cluding area athletes: Field events GIRLS HIGH JUMP Corning junior Kaylee Shoemaker enters as the fa- vorite with a qualifying mark of 5 feet, 2 inches. Las Plumas senior Cas- sandra Taylor is in the mix as one of a handful of entrants at 4-10. BOYS DISCUS Seniors Aaren Starr of Pleasant Valley and Andrew Jack- son of Corning owns the third- and fourth-best marks at 137-1 and 136- 10, respectively, but Anderson's Grant Kingston leads at 156-7. GIRLS TRIPLE JUMP Gridley's Mi- chael Curry is second at 34-7 behind Enterprise freshman Alyssa Burke at 34-8.5. Chico's Madison Stevens is also in the field at 33-7.75. BOYS POLE VAULT West Valley's Ty- ler Burson, a senior, is one of the con- tenders for the Bob Russell award, which goes to the top athlete of the NORTHERN SECTION TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS Athletesheatupbeforefinals Individual titles, state berths on the line Friday at West Valley High GIANTS 3, BREWERS 1 Up next: Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants, 7:15p.m. today, TV on CSN-BA. THESCORE By Andrew Baggarly Bay Area News Group MILWAUKEE Ryan Vogelsong ended April as a bearded, 37-year- old spot starter and long reliever with a 9.31 ERA. One of these years, he might run out of comebacks. Not yet. The baseball Lazarus rose up again Wednesday, battling and subduing the Milwaukee Brewers over six innings. Joe Panik hit a two-run home run in the fifth and the San Francisco Giants won 3-1 to sweep a three-game series at Miller Park. The Giants went 5-2 on a drain- ing road trip, managing to make hay despite seeing very little sun. Vogelsong wielded the scythe, stepping into two softball beer gardens (Coors Field and Miller Park) and yielding just one run BASEBALL Giants complete sweep of Brewers BLACKHAWKS 5, DUCKS 2 Up next: Game 7, Chicago Black- hawks at Anaheim Ducks, 5p.m. Saturday, TV on NBC. THESCORE By Jay Cohen The Associated Press CHICAGO Duncan Keith had three assists and saved a goal in the third period, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Wednesday night to force a Game 7 in the Western Conference finals. Brandon Saad, Marian Hossa and Patrick Kane scored in the second to help the Blackhawks hand the Ducks their first regu- lation loss of the playoffs. Andrew Shaw had two goals in the third, and Corey Crawford finished with 30 saves. The Blackhawks improved to 31-0 when leading after two peri- ods and erased some of the sting from Monday night's 5-4 overtime loss. Game 7 is Saturday night in NHL PLAYOFFS Blackhawks beat Ducks to force Game 7 The Northern Section CIF Track and Field Champion- ships are scheduled to be held at West Valley High School on Friday, starting at 4p.m. Run- ning events are scheduled to start at 6p.m. TRACK AND FIELD West Valley hosts section finals on Friday The Spartan Soccer Camp for boys and girls in eighth through 12th grades is scheduled to be held Monday through Thursday evenings from July 13-23. For more in- formation, visit bit.ly/1FBCVIk. SOCCER Spartan Soccer Camp set for July 13-23 TRACK PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 HOCKEY PAGE 2 WARRIORS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, May 28, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1