Santa Fe teen skier captures Taos gold

Jackson Buscher of Santa Fe captured gold at the USASA Slopestyle contest in Taos on Saturday.

Buscher, competing in the 13-15 age division, earned a trip to April's nationals with the victory. The national competition for the United States of America Snowboard Association takes place at Copper Mountain in Colorado.

Buscher, a skier, is coming off a national runner-up finish in downhill mountain biking that took place over the summer.

Highlands blows lead vs. Mesa State

See you in Mankato, Mavericks.

New Mexico Highlands University would like nothing better than to get another shot at Mesa State College, which defeated the Cowboys 83-79 Saturday night in the championship game of the RMAC Shootout.

The Mavericks (24-6) captured an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Regional Tournament, slated for Minnesota, by capturing the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship. The Cowboys (20-10) are expected to join them in Mankato.

The NCAA Division II Tournament selection show is slated for 7 tonight.

Highlands enjoyed a 47-33 halftime advantage and built the lead to as many as 19 points in the second half. Mesa State finally overtook the Cowboys in the final minute, closing the game on a 29-13 scoring run.

All five starters scored in double digits for the Mavericks. Donte Nichols and Reggie Evans scored 18 points apiece, A.J. Flournoy followed with 14, and Brian Minor and Jonathan Morse each scored 12.

Nichols grabbed 10 rebounds and was 11-for-13 from the free-throw line. Evans, the Shootout's most valuable player, had nine rebounds.

For Highlands, Roman Andrade scored 25 points. Ryan Gonzalez added 17 off the bench and Chop Tang had 10. Andrade and Tang were named all-tournament.

The Cowboys started the week ranked seventh in the Central Region. The top eight teams from each region are selected to the tournament.

Vonn wins third straight Cup downhill title

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Lindsey Vonn won her third straight downhill title Saturday and tied Bode Miller for the most career World Cup victories by an American at 32.

She defeated Johanna Schnarf of Italy by a mere 0.01 seconds in her first race since the Vancouver Olympics, where she won gold in the downhill. Vonn finished the Nationale downhill course in 1 minute, 35.26 seconds.

Vonn clinched the Crystal Globe for the downhill title by increasing her lead to 189 points over Maria Riesch of Germany with just one race left. Marianne Abderhalden of Switzerland was third, 0.38 seconds behind.

Vonn earned her sixth win in seven World Cup downhill races this season. She extended her lead in the overall World Cup standings to 197 points ahead of Riesch, who was sixth.

Crosby's Olympic-winning stick missing

TORONTO — Reebok Canada is offering a $10,000 reward, no questions asked, for the return of the stick and gloves Sidney Crosby used to score in overtime in Canada's Olympic championship victory over the United States.

The equipment disappeared after Crosby tossed his stick and ripped off his gloves to celebrate. Hockey Canada says all of the equipment was collected and was being put into the players' bags when it was noticed Crosby's stick and glove were missing

"The stick and glove are priceless," Len Rhodes, vice president and general manager for Reebok Hockey CCM, said Saturday night. "There's absolutely no substitute for that exact stick and glove."

Reebok has set up an e-mail hot line for people to send in tips.




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