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BySteveReed TheAssociatedPress CHARLOTTE, N.C. DeMar- cus Cousins opened the door to the standup cooler in the locker room and tried to stuff as much of his 6-foot-11, 270-pound body as he could in- side to cool down. Perhaps he was still hot from the fourth quarter. Cousins was 4 for 4 from the field in the period and fin- ished with 20 points and 14 rebounds, helping the Sac- ramento Kings snap a four- game losing streak with a 113- 106 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night. He got plenty of help from Ben McLemore, who scored 27 points, and Rudy Gay, who added 26, including several big shots down the stretch. "We made some good plays down the stretch," Cous- ins said. "We did a good job of reading their defense and making plays." Cousins and Gay combined for 18 points on 6-of-6 shooting in the fourth quarter to squash the Hornets' comeback bid. "When Ben is clicking, my- self and Rudy, we're a good team," Cousins said. McLemore shot 10 of 16. "He was making some jump shots and ran the court pretty well," coach George Karl said. "He has been getting some good looks but has been hit- ting the front of the rim. He's working on his game, the con- fidence is coming and tonight he was a guy who I couldn't take off the floor." The loss proved costly to the Hornets — and not just because they entered the night clinging to the eighth-best re- cord in the Eastern Confer- ence. Just as Charlotte was get- ting one star player back, an- other left with an injury. Kemba Walker had six points in 16 minutes off the bench after missing 18 games following knee surgery, but Charlotte lost center Al Jef- NBA Cousins,Kingsdefeat Hornetstosnapskid McLemore scores 27 points for Sacramento, Gay adds 26, hits big shots NELLREDMOND—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Charlotte Hornets center Bismack Biyombo (le ) blocks the shot of Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay as Hornets forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist watches during the first half Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C. KINGS113,HORNETS106 Up next: Sacramento Kings at Philadelphia 76ers, 4p.m. Friday, TV on CSN-CA. THESCORE By Josh Dubow The Associated Press ALAMEDA Dan Williams has seen firsthand the impact a new coaching staff can have on a downtrodden franchise. After spending time with Oak- land coach Jack Del Rio and his staff, Williams believes they can have the same kind of impact on the Raiders that Bruce Ari- ans had on his former team in Arizona. "I've seen what has happened when a new head coach comes in and everyone buys in," Williams said Wednesday. "It doesn't have to be a rebuilding year or we only won (three) games last year, let's win five. We've got a new coach, we've got new people, a new sys- tem, let's win right away instead of waiting two or three years or something." Williams is one of several free agents the Raiders have added on the first two days of the league year with much of the fo- cus so far on upgrading the front seven and the league's least pro- ductive running game. The Raiders also announced the signings of center Rod- ney Hudson, linebacker Mal- colm Smith, running back Roy Helu and blocking tight end Lee Smith. Linebacker Curtis Lof- ton said in a text to The Associ- NFL FREE AGENCY Raiders reach deal with center Hudson Oakland also adds Williams at defensive tackle, Lo on at linebacker to front seven BILL WIPPERT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Former Kansas City Chiefs center Rodney Hudson (61) on Wednesday officially signed a five-year contract that can be worth $44.5million with the Oakland Raiders. Kyle Crick sees role models wherever he looks in the San Francisco Giants' spring club- house. Few pitching staffs are as seasoned or accomplished as the group that includes Madison Bumgarner. SPRING TRAINING Giants'Crickmay become next big thing FULL STORY ON PAGE B2 Searchers struggled Wednes- day to find the seven Marines and four soldiers killed when a helicopter crashed, hampered by the same fog that plagued a nighttime training mission. 11 KILLED Black Hawk crashed in fog, one turned back FULL STORY ON PAGE B4 Staff Reports REDDING Eric Schreter and Kolby Button combined to pitch a shutout and Walker Dodero homered Tuesday as the Red Bluff Spartans won their league opener 3-0 at Shasta. Schreter struck out nine bat- ters through the first four in- nings, before giving way to But- ton to pitch the final three frames and earn the save. Lane Pritchard doubled and knocked in a run for Red Bluff. Wesley Clawson had a pair of hits and knocked in a run. Sam Hendricks had a double and Bryce Sinclair had a pair of singles. Red Bluff (3-0, 1-0) plays Grid- ley at 10 a.m. today and Ameri- can Christian Academy at 12:30 p.m. at the Oroville Tournament. So ball CORNING 18, ORLAND 5 Sophia Oliverez, Marrissa Hopkins and Kimmy White each drove in three runs as the Lady Cardinals won their season opener Tuesday at Orland. Orland led 4-2 after two in- nings, but the Lady Cards erupted for four runs in the third and seven more in the fourth inning. Oliverez had a single and a dou- ble. Baylie Fryar and Hopkins also had multi-hit games. Kaitlin Cox drew three walks. Corning (1-0) plays University Prep at 3 p.m. and Winters at 5 p.m. Friday at the Colusa Tour- nament. FOOTHILL 10, RED BLUFF 0 The Lady Spartans lost their season opener Tuesday in Palo Cedro. Foothill scored their 10 runs in the first three innings. Red Bluff (0-1) plays River Val- ley at 10:45 a.m. Friday and Para- dise at 4 p.m. at the Pleasant Val- PREP ROUNDUP Spartans shut out Shasta in baseball Lady Cards win so ball opener over Orland 18-5 Staff Reports COTTONWOOD Anderson's Kolby Bravos and Merill, Oregon's Keeley Vaughan were the All- Around Cowboy and Cowgirl at the March 6-8 District 1 Califor- nia High School Rodeo Associa- tion rodeo. Vaughan won All-Around Cow- girl with 105.5 points. She was followed by Gerber's Bailey Bean with 91.5 points, Grants Pass, Oregon's Hayden Morsa with 64 points, Red Bluff's Cara Hencratt with 47 points and Palo Cedro's Jessica Alosi with 46 points. Bravos won All-Around Cow- boy with 59 points, followed by Witter Springs' Brushton Minton with 53 points, Grenada's Dalton Cash with 45 points, Millville's Brody Gill with 43 points and Cot- tonwood's Cameron Jones with 39 points. Hencratt picked up a win in girls cutting with a score of 146. Bean was second and Cotton- wood's Taylor Renihan was fifth. Central Point Oregon's Maekaela Memmott won barrel racing with a time of 35.092 sec- onds. Bean was fourth, Red Bluff's Mikayla Moore fifth, Cotton- wood's Erin Clendenen sixth, RODEO Hencratt wins girls cutting in District 1 CHSRA event The Mercy Lady Warriors so ball team hosts Greenville at 4p.m. Corning tennis hosts Anderson at 3:30and Mercy is at Live Oak. Red Bluff golf takes on Enterprise at River- view Country Club. SPRING SPORTS Mercy so ball hosts Greenville today The Glenn Cox Tournament continues in Los Molinos today. Mercy hosts their season opener at 6:30p.m. against Greenville. Red Bluff and Corning are at the Oroville Tournament. BASEBALL Los Molinos, Mercy host games tonight ROUNDUP PAGE 2 RODEO PAGE 2 RAIDERS PAGE 2 KINGS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, March 12, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1