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1B Thursday February 20, 2014 Sports Tehama Tracker Today's schedule GIRLS BASKETBALL Red Bluff at Shasta, 7:30 p.m. BOYS SOCCER PLAYOFFS Colusa at Los Molinos, 3 p.m. GIRLS SOCCER PLAYOFFS Corning at Sutter, 3 p.m. Sports on TV AUTO RACING 7 a.m. FS1 — NASCAR, Nationwide Series, practice for DRIVE4COPD 300, at Daytona Beach, Fla. 9 a.m. FS1 — NASCAR, Nationwide Series, practice for DRIVE4COPD 300, at Daytona Beach, Fla. 10:30 a.m. FS1 — NASCAR, Truck Series, practice for NextEra Energy Resources 250, at Daytona Beach, Fla. Noon FS1 — NASCAR, Nationwide Series, practice for DRIVE4COPD 300, at Daytona Beach, Fla. 1:30 p.m. FS1 — NASCAR, Truck Series, practice for NextEra Energy Resources 250, at Daytona Beach, Fla. 4 p.m. FS1 — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, Duel, at Daytona Beach, Fla. GOLF 6 a.m. TGC — LPGA Thailand, first round, at Chonburi, Thailand (same- day tape) 10 a.m. TGC — PGA Tour-WGC, Accenture Match Play Championship, second round matches, at Marana, Ariz. MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 4 p.m. ESPN — Michigan St. at Purdue ESPN2 — Alabama at Texas A&M ESPNU — Penn St. at Nebraska 6 p.m. ESPN — Duke at North Caroli- na ESPN2 — UConn at Temple ESPNU — Toledo at Bowling Green 8 p.m. ESPN2 — Gonzaga at BYU ESPNU — Pepperdine at Loyola Mary- mount NBA BASKETBALL 5 p.m. TNT — Miami at Oklahoma City 7:30 p.m. TNT — Houston at Golden State SOCCER 10 a.m. FSN — UEFA Europa League, Valencia at Dynamo Kiev Noon FSN — UEFA Europa League, Eintracht Frankfurt at Porto WINTER OLYMPICS At Sochi, Russia All events taped unless noted as Live NBC 9 a.m. Women's Hockey - Gold Medal Final (LIVE IN ALL TIME ZONES) 8 p.m. Ladies' Figure Skating - Gold Medal Final; Women's Freestyle Skiing - Halfpipe Gold Medal Final; Men's Freestyle Skiing - Cross Gold Medal Final 1 a.m. Men's Nordic Combined - Team K-125 Large Hill Gold Medal Final NBCSN 6:30 a.m. Ladies' Figure Skating - Gold Medal Final Preview 7 a.m. Ladies' Figure Skating - Gold Medal Final (LIVE) 11 a.m. Men's Freestyle Skiing - Ski Cross Competition Noon Game of the Day: Hockey 12 Mid. Men's Curling - Bronze Medal Game, Sweden-Britain loser vs. Cana- da-China loser (LIVE); Women's Freestyle Skiing - Cross Competition CNBC 2 p.m. Women's Curling - Gold Medal Final, Canada vs. Sweden American Legion Baseball Red Bluff Bulls American Legion Baseball is hold- ing sign-ups from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Red Bluff Veterans Hall at 735 Oak St. This year the program will have a 15U and 17U team. For 15U, players may not turn 16 on or before Aug. 11, 2014. For 17U, players may not turn 18 on or before Aug. 11, 2014. There is a $250 sign-up fee. Tryouts are scheduled for March 9. GIRLS BASKETBALL The Red Bluff Lady Spartans (17-8, 3-4 Sac River League) fell to Enterprise on the road Tuesday, 54-27. The Corning Lady Cardinals (18- 7, 6-2 Northern Athletic League) dropped a home game against Ander- son on Tuesday, 47-34. The Mercy Lady Warriors (20-5, 8-3, Five Star League) defeated the vis- iting Los Molinos Lady Bulldogs (10- 10, 4-7, FSL) on Tuesday, 67-46. Mercy's Marissa Starman led the Warriors in scoring with 23 points. Jes- sica Curl nearly notched a triple-double on the night, scoring 21 points, grab- bing 20 rebounds and tallying nine blocks. BOYS BASKETBALL The Red Bluff Spartans (13-11, 1- 6 SRL) dropped a home game against Enterprise on Tuesday, 69-53. Red Bluff's Joseph Bosetti led the Spartans in scoring with 23 points. He was followed by Curtis Twitchell, who scored nine points, and Greg DuFour, who also tallied nine points. The Corning Cardinals (20-4, 8-0 NAL) clinched a league title with a road win against Anderson on Tuesday, 49-43. Corning's Michael Shoemaker put up a double-double, scoring 22 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Nick Hoag and Manny Garcia scored nine points apiece, and Chayce Maday scored five points. The Los Molinos Bulldogs (13-11, 5-6 FSL) defeated the Mercy Warriors (8-17, 2-9 FSL) on the road Tuesday, 65-46. Mercy's Brandon Gorden led the Warriors in scoring with 13 points. He was followed by Teddy Ranberg, who notched 11 points, and Reid Gardner, who also scored 11 points. PREP ROUNDUP AP photo USA forward Zach Parise (9) celebrates his goal against the Czech Republic with teammates Phil Kessel (81) and defenseman Ryan Suter during the men's quarterfinal hockey game at the Winter Olympics Wednesday. US gets shot at Canada in semis SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The United States' hockey team is getting exactly what it wanted. Another shot at Canada. Dustin Brown banged in a go-ahead goal late in the first period and the Americans went on to dominate the Czech Republic 5-2 Wednesday to earn a spot in the semifinals for the third time in four Olympics. The U.S. went on to play in the gold-medal game in 2010 and 2002 and lost each time to the Canadians. When the Americans' coach, Dan Bylsma, was asked to look ahead to the matchup, he took a deep breath and paused for several seconds to gather his thoughts. ''We knew we were going to have some big games prior to this point in time, but you were looking forward to the possibility of this rematch,'' he said. After a day off, the countries that share a long border in North America and generally friendly relations will meet on Friday for the chance to become hockey champions of the Sochi Games. ''It's a great opportunity,'' American forward Max Pacioretty said. ''They're obviously the favorite coming into the tournament, and we've opened up a lot of eyes with our play, but we have more in the tank to give and to show. ''We keep getting better every game and hopefully we'll keep getting better after this one.'' While the Canadians had to hold off Latvia 2-1, the U.S. might be peaking at the right time to improve its chances to win Olympic hockey gold for the first time since the ''Mir- acle on Ice,'' in 1980. If the U.S. wins two more games, anyone who has been watching them play won't be surprised. ''This is a team that has put up a spectacular perfor- mance,'' Czech Republic coach Alois Hadamczik said. And it wasn't the first time in Sochi. The U.S. has been tested only once, in a 3-2, eight-round shootout against the host Russians in the preliminary round. The Americans crushed the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia by a combined score of 17-4. The Americans shaped their roster with players who skate fast, hit hard, share the puck and score. ''It starts off the ice,'' Pacioretty said. ''Everyone on this team realizes you have to play for the team and check your ego at the door. All of us are the top players on our team back home and you come here and you're asked to play dif- ferent roles. ''You see everyone in the room, willing to go to the dirty areas, block shots, make hits. It's nice to see when you see a guy like Patty Kane backchecking as hard as he can across the ice. It kind of puts things in perspective.'' While the Czechs had to play for a second straight day because they needed to beat Slovakia in the qualification round just to reach the quarterfinals, the rested Americans were ready to roll after two days off. The U.S. seemed to take advantage of having fresh legs, beating the Czech Republic to loose pucks all night long. ''They had more energy,'' Czech goalie Ondrej Pavelec said. ''It's not an excuse, it's just the way it is.'' James van Riemsdyk gave the Americans a lead 1:39 into the game. They lost it a few minutes later when one of their defenseman, Ryan McDonagh, tried to clear the puck away from the front of the crease and it went off the left skate of Ryan Suter and got past Jonathan Quick. The Czechs were not as successful scoring on their own against Quick, who started ahead of 2010 silver-medal win- ning goaltender Ryan Miller and had 21 saves. Ales Hemsky was credited with a goal that two Ameri- cans touched after he did. Hemsky legitimately scored his second one, skating to the slot and snapping off a wrist shot that got past Quick's blocker with 7 minutes left in the game. Brown put the U.S. up 2-1 at the 14:38 mark of the first, and David Backes made it 3-1 with 1.8 seconds in the peri- od. Zach Parise piled on, pushing the Americans' lead to 4- 1 midway through the second period to chase Pavelec after he made just eight saves. He was replaced by Alexander Salak, who stopped 12 shots. Since the Czechs won 1998 Olympics, the first with NHL players, they have won only one a bronze medal in 2006. Nets get Thornton from Kings NEW YORK (AP) — The Brooklyn Nets acquired guard Marcus Thornton from the Sacramento Kings for Jason Terry and Reggie Evans on Wednesday, removing two little-used veterans from their aging roster and hoping a younger one can rediscover his scoring touch. Terry came from Boston along with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce but has appeared in just 35 games after a knee injury, averaging 4.5 points on 36 percent shooting. Evans was a favorite of fans but not coach Jason Kidd, who used him in just 30 of their 51 games. Evans made 56 starts last season and led the Nets with 11.1 rebounds per game, but lost his starting spot when the Nets acquired Garnett, and then fell behind rookie Mason Plumlee in Kidd's rotation. Thornton averaged 21.3 points in 23 games with the Kings in 2010-11 after being acquired in a midseason trade with New Orleans. He then led the Kings with 18.7 points per game in 2011- 12, but has fallen out of favor under defensive-minded coach Michael Malone, even getting benched at one point to make way for rookie Ben McLemore. ''Marcus is a proven scorer in this league,'' Nets general manager Billy King said in a statement. ''He is a young tal- ent who will help us in the backcourt.'' But Thornton is averaging just 8.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and one assist in 24 minutes per game this season. He has started 26 of 46 games and is shooting 38 percent from the floor, including 31 percent from 3-point range. It's the third move for the Kings since the season started as they rebuild under new owner Vivek Ranadive, general manager Pete D'Alessandro and Malone. Sacramento sent Luc Mbah a Moute to Minnesota for Derrick Williams on Nov. 26 and acquired Rudy Gay in a seven-play deal with Toronto on Dec. 9. ''Adding Jason and Reggie provides our roster with toughness and veteran leadership that will help this team continue to grow,'' D'Alessandro said. ''They bring a wealth of NBA experience to Sacramento that will undoubtedly make a positive impact on our younger players.'' The Kings, under the former ownership of the Maloof family, signed Thornton to a four-year contract worth about $31 million just before the lockout-shortened 2011-12 sea- son. Thornton is making $8.05 million this season and is due $8.575 million next season. He'll bring some youth to a Nets team that loaded up on veterans in an expensive attempt to make a run at a title this season. AP photo Cleveland's Kyrie Irving, left, and Sacramento's Marcus Thornton chase down a loose ball Feb. 11. OLYMPIC MEN'S HOCKEY A's catcher Stephen Vogt makes presence known PHOENIX (AP) — At first glance, Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt appears to be lobbying for a spot on the A's opening day roster. He walks into the team's spring-training clubhouse, gets into his uniform and goes to the opposite side of the room, sitting down beside a teammate to see how he's doing. As the catchers prepare to board vans for the short ride to fields down the street, he grabs bottles of water and begins tossing them to his masked mates. The truth is, he showed enough during a late-season call-up to be strongly con- sidered for more major- league duty. ''I like talking to and being with my teammates, but talking to them also is part of the job,'' he said. ''A catcher is considered a leader and you need to know as many things about your teammates, both on and off the field. You never know what kind of information you are going to learn. You know who to push and who to be easier with.'' A year ago, nobody in the Bay Area knew anything about Vogt, except for fami- ly in his native Visalia, Calif. He was a 12th-round draft pick by Tampa Bay in 2007 and was in the major leagues for 18 games in 2012 as an outfielder, catcher and first baseman. He was hitless in 25 at-bats. Last April, Tampa Bay sold Vogt's contract to Oak- land. He spent the early part of the season with Triple-A Sacramento, was called up briefly in June, went back down and returned to Oak- land for good in July. The left-handed hitting Vogt started to play some against right-handed pitch- ing, sharing duty with Derek Norris, then more and more. John Jaso, the team's other catcher, was dealing with a concussion. Manager Bob Melvin and the coaching staff liked the way Vogt handled the pitchers, and so did the pitchers themselves. ''He's easy to work with. He has a good idea of what guys want to throw and what they should throw,'' starting pitcher Jarrod Parker said. ''He's a very likable guy, has a great sense of humor. He can help us.'' The team went 8-0 in Vogt's first eight starts and was 27-13 in games that he started. He finished with a .252 batting average with four home runs and 16 RBIs in 47 games. He also showed a strong, accurate arm in going after potential base stealers. The best was yet to come. In Game 2 of the ALDS, Vogt guided Sonny Gray to a 1-0 victory against Detroit's Justin Verlander. Vogt also delivered the game-winning hit in the bot- tom of the ninth inning.